


The Fall

by PurpleArrowzandLeather



Series: King and Queen of Hearts [2]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, So excited!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2018-12-25 18:21:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12041592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleArrowzandLeather/pseuds/PurpleArrowzandLeather
Summary: Cayde during and after the Tower's destruction.





	1. Connection to the Light

          Cayde had walked into the main office, his armor strapped tightly around him, expecting to have to push through interference from the storm. But no. Ships, dozens and dozens of cabal ships, appear out of the clouds. Zavala lets out a shout of warning and pops his bubble in front of the glass. Cayde almost goes to it, but then realizes it's safer away from the glass and out of the line of fire. Zavala holds his ground for a long while, but he's thrown back by the blast. Cayde pulls his golden gun and aims for one of the ship's turbines. He does the same for two others, but it's not enough. Ikora rushes to help Zavala off the ground 

          The Hunter Vanguard looks for his charges, but they are nowhere to be seen. Dead. His Exo eyes narrow in anger and he takes the first Cabal that appear head on. Cayde shoots a centurion on the head, but doesn't turn on time to see the fire bomb headed his way. 

          "Cayde!" Ikora calls. 

          He dives to the floor, his hood draping over his eyes. Pulling his legs up and his cloak over his body, he remains hidden on the floor. Peeking one glowing blue eye out towards the world, he sees Ikora dart out of the room and Zavala hot on her heels. Cabal still appear in the middle of the room, looking for signs of life.  _They're gonna sense my Light!_  

          Once all three are facing away, he turns onto his back and shoots them all. Alone for a brief moment, Cayde gets up, slamming his fist down on a button to open a door. Slipping into the secret hallway, he heads up. The floor in front of his feet splits in half and a shout of pain escapes him. Something has torn through the armor in his back. Reeling with the next hit, he rolls into the new crevasse and lands hard on the lower floor. Dazed, he gains his feet and fires haphazardly towards the upper floor. Bullets hit him in the back and front, knocking him back to the ground and he tosses a grenade at the bigger group. He hears the spurting of fluids in the other group and turns, steadying his weapon on the unknown party. 

          "Easy, Cayde." Ikora says, putting up a hand in defense. 

          Cayde sighs in relief and watches her jump out the window and onto a ship. She uses them all to leap towards the Speaker. Cayde takes the stairs and opens a door towards the hangar. Seeing a guardian there and three Cabal in the back corner, he pulls his golden gun and kills them. The guardian shakes her head.

          "Good to see you, Guardian! Zavala's got a rendezvous up on the top floor. I, on the other hand, have a date. Not a good date, or necessarily a long date, but a date." he laughs. "Man, this feels good! I haven't gotten to use this in years."

          Cayde has his Ghost teleport him to the bow of the command ship. He can still hear the cries of the dying back on the Tower and he can feel his core start to heat. He meets a bunch of commanders getting to the top deck and wreaks havoc on them. They fall quickly under the power of his weapons and he steps into the control room. Once he's inside, the door shuts and locks. He turns and sees the biggest Colossus he's ever met and stumbles back. He seems to laugh and shoots two fiery grenades. 

          Everything around him goes dark and his head hits the floor. When he finally comes to, four Cabal are standing guard over him and he's looking out over the Tower and the Traveler. The viewing deck. Cayde struggles, but the legionaries hold him still. Looking around his person for a weapon of some sort, he finds none and looks up. The face of a Cabal warrior wearing white armor greets him and Cayde cringes. 

          "Afraid, Guardian?" the warrior laughs. 

          "Not of you." he spits, his voice box turning orange with his anger. 

          The leader steps into Cayde's personal space and pulls out a small knife. "We wouldn't want you to make and ruckus for our coming guest."

          Cayde struggles, but another legionary holds him in place. "Don't touch me!" Cayde growls. 

          The small knife cuts through the plate that covers his throat and he can feel the wires being moved as the warrior searches for a specific one. 

          "What are you-" Cayde starts, but the warrior smiles and cuts through a wire. 

          Cayde can feel the connection in his brain break and he tries to scream, but his voice box isn't working anymore. He watches in a mixture of new fear and horror as the Cabal leader gestures for them to move him into the shadows. 

          He watches as the guardian steps out onto the platform and wishes he could shout, scream, or do anything. He struggles and the Cabal are shocked considering he's been pretty much limp for the past two minutes. He grabs one of their weapons and fires at them. The leader turns and shoots the weapon away from Cayde's hands and the guardian turns, seeing Cayde being restrained by four new legionaries.

          The guardian reaches out for him and Cayde wants to tell her to shoot, no matter what, when he feels a blade break through his back. He watches in muted horror as it protrudes out his front and he grasps reflexively at it. Oil leaks out, and coolant, and other vital fluids. It leaks out from the corners of his mouth.

          He realizes that there's an upside and a downside to being an Exo. Upside being that it takes longer to die if you've been stabbed. Downside, well, it takes longer to die if you've been stabbed. He stays mounted on the blade for a few moments longer before he's tossed aside, the blade leaving an open hole in Cayde's chest. The injured Vanguard member listens to the gurgling noises in his chest and looks at the guardian.

          She falls to her knees as an orange pulse spreads over the Traveler. Cayde slips back to the ground as his Light leaves him. Agony, that's what this is. His Light disappears and everything stops mending. His Ghost appears and drops to the ground in front of his face. Cradling it to his chest, Cayde struggles to move. The Cabal pay him no mind, figuring him long dead by now. Leaving a trail the whole way, he peers over the edge of the deck.  _Long way to fall._ Looking back at the guardian, he watches in horror, reaching an arm out to her as she's kicked over the ledge.  _Wasn't an option before, it is now._ Cayde lies down, gathering his wits. 

          "Where do you think you're going?" the warrior asks. 

          Flipping more quickly than Cayde would have thought possible, he looks at the Cabal leader with dulled blue eyes. _Anywhere but here._

          "Maybe you should have thought twice before trying to take us on." he says, smugly even. 

          Cayde, with his lack of voice, settles for the most rude and childish gesture he can think of in the heat of the moment. He flips him the bird and leans back, dropping over the edge. With his Ghost tucked safely into his cloak, he hurtles through the air. 

           _If I had a tongue, maybe sticking my tongue out at him would have been better._

* * *

         He wakes to the light trilling of his Ghost. He doesn't move due to the pain in his whole frame. He groans, opening his eyes. 

          _How are we doin'?_ he thinks.

"I've healed what I can, but there's a lot of damage. You most likely won't survive the night without help."

           _Mental help, or physical help?_

          Usually anything like that in Cayde's thoughts is a joke, but not this time. If he isn't mistaken, his Ghost looks saddened by his words. "I fixed your voice box as well as I could, but it may be iffy. I don't think you should try it."

          Cayde nods, ignoring the change in subject. He gets to his feet, but has to hold his chest to keep from toppling over. His Ghost disappears, but Cayde can feel the physical absence and wishes for him to come back. Ghost heeds his silent plea and reappears, hovering just over his shoulder. There's a deep ache through his whole body, and he's starting to think his body misses the Light. He does too. Cayde glances back at where he landed and winces at the site of the small crater he'd been lying in. 

          His Ghost gently pushes him away from the site and Cayde stumbles along. Moving through a partially collapsed building, he leans against the wall for a few minutes. Being without his voice to call for help or anything of the sort, he feels alone in his own head. Ghost guides him gently, hovering from rock to rock. Cayde knows that his Ghost doesn't like to be out in the open, and he knows it's selfish to make him do so....

          "Cayde." he Ghost admonishes. 

          He opens his mouth to respond, but snaps it shut, remembering the reliability of his voice box. Not great. 

          "I don't blame you. And you can't make me do anything."

          Cayde nods sullenly and takes trembling steps forwards. 

          "Look!" 

          Cayde looks up and sees another Ghost, scanning around. Cayde's Ghost goes over and touches it, but it seems despondent. 

          "No, no. She has to be here somewhere." he turns and his single eye glazes straight over Cayde. "It's all gone. Can't be.... all gone."

          It flies close to Cayde and he cups a gentle hand around around it. It squeaks and realizes he's there. It scans him. "Cayde?"

           _It can't recognize me?_

          "There's a... small tear in your face."

          Cayde nods at the Ghost and it turns. "I'm... well, I'm Jake."

          Cayde would laugh, so his Ghost does for him. "Jake?"  _Your name isn't any better, Ghost. I named you Wash, remember?_

          He's suspiciously silent in response to that, but he turns to scan the other Ghost at the same time the other Ghost scans him. "How did you survive?"

          Cayde's Ghost doesn't know how to answer that until he remembers being wrapped in a cloak with a flicker of memory. "Cayde saved me."

          "How did Cayde.... how? You were stabbed."

           _I was there. I know._

          The Ghost's fins spin around once and tilt. "You aren't talking."

          Cayde opens his mouth and decides to at least try. "I-" he winces as leftover oil drips from his mouth. "-" no more sound comes out and he hangs his head. 

          "That's why you didn't warn us sooner." her Ghost says quietly. 

          Cayde nods and sits down on a rock. He figured he'd rest for a bit, but his body has other ideas. Swaying, he slips to the ground. His Ghost hovers worriedly. Cayde waves him off and attempts to gain his feet. The effort is definitely shaky, but it'll have to do.  

          He hears something making racket off to his left and lamely reaches for weapons that aren't there. 

          "Kayleigh!" the Ghost whispers. 

          She drops to the ground, unable to get back up, but looks at them. Cayde moves as quickly as he can and drops next to her. "You're alive."

          She looks up at both her Ghost and Cayde. "Cayde?"

          Her Ghost seems to be in better shape than Cayde's and he heals her. Immediately, she hugs Cayde. Startled and in pain, he flinches hard, pulling away. 

          "Are you okay?" she asks, worry coloring her tone.

          Cayde nods, sitting back on the ground.

          "Are you lying?" 

          He shakes his head. "Fine." he basks in quiet relief that he could manage the word, because she looks like she believes him. 

          She helps him to his feet and stares at the hole still evident all the way through him. "You're sure?"

          Nodding, he turns towards the tunnel and starts walking. She follows. Picking their way along, they find an abandoned camp not far from the destroyed city. Not abandoned. Everyone in it is dead. Cayde grabs the first pistol he sees and checks around for ammo. He doesn't find a lot. She picks up and automatic weapon and cries out in warning. 

          He turns quickly and sees Cabal war beasts racing towards them. Cayde picks off a few and tries not to pass out. His left eye goes completely dark for a little bit, but his Ghost manages to get it back online before the Kayleigh notices. It causes his Ghost to pitch out of the air for a few seconds, but Cayde hides him until he gets floating again. Cayde can feel his injuries taking their toll, and he knows that being an Exo is the only thing keeping him alive. If he had lungs, he'd be dead. If he had a heart, he'd be dead. If he even had a real throat, he'd be dead. 

          He presses a gentle hand to his throat and feels the split straight down the middle of it. He shudders, remembering the pain of feeling the connection snap, to both the light and his voice. Contrary to popular belief, Cayde isn't a social butterfly, but talking is part of who he is. 

          Cayde leans heavily on Kayleigh after the first night and she knows he can't take anymore beating. His Ghost has tried to help, but it's damaged enough that it can only manage the slightest fixes. He's so warm that if he were human, she'd be tempted to say he's running a fever, but it's just his systems trying to run being in less than optimal condition. Though he doesn't need to eat, she does, and food is becoming harder to find as they move through the Twilight Gap. Finally, they see someone sitting on a ledge. They're both tired, and she misjudges the distance. She knows better than to try to glide, but she honestly thought she could jump farther. 

          Cayde slides the the steep sheet of rock to stand protectively over her as weird people gather around. He holds out the knife he found at another camp menacingly. He's sure he looks half-crazy, but they seem more interested in the hole in Cayde's chest. He crouches next to Kayleigh and nudges her awake, all the while keeping his knife leveled against the unknowns. 

          "Who are these people?" she whispers. 

          He shrugs.

          "Goodness! Cayde, is that you?"

          He nods, recognizes Tyra Karn from the Iron Temple, but remains leery of the rest.

          "Are you two alright?" she asks, putting a hand back towards the group. 

          "Fine." Cayde huffs. He's fairly proud that he managed to speak again, considering he'd tried while Kayleigh wasn't looking and it never worked. 

          "Come with us. We're making a new temporary base." 

          She approaches Cayde as if he was a cornered animal, but considering he's acting like one, it shouldn't surprise him. 

          "Cayde, they're just refugees. Put the knife down." Kayleigh murmurs. 

          If he puts the knife down, he'll feel vulnerable, and he's in rough enough shape to know that if they catch him off guard, he won't live through it. She presses forwards again and Cayde hisses. "Stay back."

           _I did it again!_  

          His voice box only seems to work when he truly needs it to. Irritating, but useful. It was enough to reassure Kayleigh. 

          "Please, Cayde. You need to stand down. Let us help-"

          A large hand from a hunter grabs Cayde's knife from above his head and Cayde tears it away, pulling the attacker down and pinning the knife to his throat. 

          "Easy! It's me! It's Shiro!"

          Cayde tries to answer him, but his voice remains nonexistent once again. Shiro he can trust, the rest of these guys, maybe not. The relative safety has Cayde's Ghost out, greeting Tyra and Shiro. 

          "Your Ghost survived?" Shiro asks, his voice slightly wistful. 

          Cayde nods.

          "Mine too." Kayleigh offers.

          Jake appears and Shiro watches them fly around, their eyes twitching a little brokenly. Cayde calms down, and his brain gives him a final warning before he collapses.  _System Failure. Reboot in progress._

 


	2. Extensive Trauma

          Cayde wakes with a start, thrashing about. Two unknown people are in the room with him and he grabs the first thing that he considers to be a weapon. Namely, a lamp. Pain flares in his sensors and he looks down at his chest. The hole is still very much there. He wards off the two people with a growl and they flee. Sitting down on the platform he had been lying on, he looks around. The light in his left eye is suspiciously dim, but there. He tries to repeat his growl from earlier, but no sound comes out. Voice box is still questionable. His Ghost floats off the stand next to where Cayde sits. 

          "Cayde?"

           _Yeah. I know. There's not much they can do without having to completely start over. I don't need to hear that._

          "We'll get it back, you know?"

           _Aren't you a ray of sunshine._

          "Someone has to be." his Ghost mutters. 

          Cayde slams a hand down on the table where his Ghost has been and hurls the lamp at the wall. It shatters and Cayde recoils, staggering back with an arm over his chest. Slamming into the wall that he hadn't realized was so close, he sinks to the floor. Wrapping what's left of his cloak around his front, he huddles in the corner of the room. His right leg still carries the mostly shredded cords that resulted from his fall. 

          Slowly, a figure emerges through a hole in the ceiling and Cayde lets it come. Whatever it is will learn it's lesson if they try to attack him. 

          "Cayde?" 

          Cayde's head snaps up and his jaw grinds. "S-" he starts, but his voice box fails. The flexible panels on his face turn distressed and Shiro tilts his head. 

          "I heard some crashing, and didn't think it would be good if you hurt yourself." Cayde hates the worry in his voice. "Are you okay?"

          Cayde nods in response and Shiro sits down next to him. 

          "There a reason you're not talking to me?" Shiro huffs. 

          Cayde nods again. 

          "Was it trying to take that knife from you, because I was only trying to help. You looked like you were gonna use it if anyone even touched you."

          He shakes his head in response and taps Shiro's hand. The Exo looks at Cayde and he points to his throat. Genlty pressing his thumb against the broken plate, yellow light glowing through the hole. Shiro's Exo eyes widen and he puts a curious hand in front of Cayde. Slowly, he nods and Shiro pulls the pliable metal back, exposing the circuits and components behind it. A vague impression of cold fear sinks into him and he shoves Shiro's hand away. 

          Shiro opens his mouth to say something, but Cayde tilts his head against the wall, shaking it back and forth.

          "You don't have questions, or anything?"

           _None that I could ask in one word that may or may not come._  

          "Cayde." Shiro says, his voice placating. "You need to keep your head on straight. That guardian you were protecting is depending on you."

          Cayde looks at him then and Shiro smirks. "Thought that would get your attention." he sees something on Cayde's expression and he chuckles. "She's okay. Definitely in better shape than you."

          Relief spreads through him, but there's nothing he can say. 

          His Ghost appears and clears its nonexistent throat. "You can ask questions through me, you know?"

          Shiro reaches a hand out to touch the Ghost and it shies away. "Sorry, just....." he coughs uncomfortably. "Still missing mine."

          Cayde pushes away from the wall and paces. There's nothing he needs to know. He kinda just wants to throw things. Without missing a beat, his Ghost relays that thought and Shiro laughs. 

          As he walks around, he realizes that the rip in his cloak rests right over the hole in his chest. 

          "Paints a gruesome picture, doesn't it, Cayde?" Shiro says quietly. "Care to try to explain what happened?"

           _How do I act out the Cabal stabbing me in the chest?_ Cayde asks sarcastically. 

          "I have a recording." his Ghost answers. "If- if you want to share it, that is."

          Cayde waves a hand and turns his back on the projection. He listens to the Colossus laugh and moves back towards Shiro. Surely the Exo has noticed how restless Cayde suddenly is, but if he does, he doesn't mention it. Cayde glimpses back at the recording at the wrong moment and he's halted in his walk by the sight of himself, a sword pushing through him. Shiro goes so rigid that Cayde can hear metal grinding against itself. Or maybe that's the recording. Watching his own body hit the deck for a second time, Cayde cringes and leans his head against the wall. It's so vivid in his own brain that he has to try to block it out. It wouldn't be the first time he's been impaled, but it's the first time his Ghost wouldn't have been able to help. It's the first time he's been truly helpless. 

           _I gotta get out of here._

          Pulling himself into the rafters where Shiro had come from, he moves directly for the darkest corner up there. Pulling his cloak as low over his eyes as he can, he retreats into his mind. The space of all the data has a calming effect on him and he spends the next few minutes alone. 

          "Cayde? I know you're up here, so it's pointless to hide."

           _I'm not hiding._

          "She's here to visit you."

          Cayde picks his head up and Shiro chuckles. 

          "Found you."

           _That's not fair._

Cayde jumps down anyway and heads for the door. His Ghost informs Shiro of his intentions and Shiro steps in front of him. "It's not safe for you out there."

          Cayde can almost feel his voice box itch to snarl at him, but Cayde pushes past him, ignoring the warnings in his mind. Yes, his chest still feels like it's on fire. No, that's not going to stop him from going outside. 

          Sunlight causes him to take a step back and Cayde feels Shiro slip the knife he had earlier into his hip holster. Feeling reassured, Cayde moves out into the light and looks around. 

          "Cayde, this is the farm."

          At first he's awestruck by how clean the place is. Plants are growing, and clean water runs in a stream. Then he sees her.

          "Kayleigh?" his voice box crackles.

          She turns around and he sees her armor. It's got a russet red shader on it, and it's done with a gold corset style design. Four wings sprout from her back. 

          "Cayde?" she looks stunned that he's standing there. "I thought.... I thought you were gone."

          _Where else would I be?_

          "You almost died. A lot of people around here figured you had." Shiro whispers. "Your systems went completely dark."

           _That would have been nice to know._

          "Your Ghost was able to restore power to your circuits and they repaired as much as they could to keep it going. We don't have much for supplies at the moment. The people who were working on you say you should be dead anyway. Your Ghost said he didn't get there in time after he woke back up."

          Cayde nods and looks out at all the people staring at him. Kayleigh is the first to come out of her daze and she pulls herself over the stone wall to hug him. It hurts like, well, like there's a giant hole still in his chest, but it's not as bad as yester.... how long has it been? 

          "I have something to tell you." she says quietly. 

          Cayde can feel his expression shift, and she smirks. 

          "I got my Light back."

          Cayde steps back and holds her out at arms length. She's not wrong. To prove it, she taps him with a glowing orange finger. 

          "That's incredible."

          Cayde feels a presence next to him and turns, pulling out his knife. Shiro had already moved out into the main area to talk to another Exo, so it couldn't be him. He realizes that he can sense everyone around him again.

          The knife is at the person's throat before they could say wait. "Good job. Not many people ever hear me coming."

           _I didn't hear a thing._

          She smiles, but it looks more like a grimace and tilts the knife away from her throat. "Still aren't sayin' much, are ya'?"

          Cayde frowns and puts his knife away. Not that he trusts her, because he doesn't, but she's obviously not a threat since no one else is trying to kill her.

          "Name's Hawthorne." she puts out her hand to shake, but Cayde just looks at her hand. It's calloused with use and hard work, but also soft. "Somethin' spooked ya' pretty good, didn't it?" she offers quietly.

          Cayde looks back at her face. Black dots circle around it, and her brown eyes look as if the sun had shone through a bottle of whiskey and stayed there. To an extent, it's frustrating. He doesn't like the look of pity in her eyes as she glances towards the hole in him. 

          Finally, he shakes her hand and she smiles. "There. Wasn't so hard, was it?"

          Cayde looks at his arm and sees a piece of rusty metal sticking through it. He tilts his head at it and Hawthorne seems to understand. She wraps her small hands around the piece and yanks it out. Something clicks back into place inside it and Cayde moves his arm. He hadn't realized it was hindering his movement. A sure sign that being in pain everywhere is not a good way to categorize wounds. He's not even sure why he's not feeling as much as he was earlier, but he'll roll with it for now.

          "Probably been there for awhile." she says. 

           _Since I fell._

 He's about to gesture his thanks when he senses something else. A real threat. He looks around for a weapon and Hawthorne backs away as he switches to defense. Kayleigh stays close. 

          "What's wrong?"

          Knowing his knife won't be good enough for whatever is around, he spots a hand canon over on a table. Leaping for it, he turns in the direction where the new presence is coming from. 

          His eyes widen as it comes around the barn. "Servitor!" he shouts. 

          Or he tries to, but instead of trying to find a way to warn them, he fires at it. Kayleigh gets hit head on with a blast and she flips to the ground. Cayde fires round after round at it until he sees a little girl run out. She's dancing in puddles of rain.  _Oh no._

          Breaking into a sprint, Cayde skids to a stop in front of the girl.  _You want her, you go through me._  

          The servitor spins its outer shell and clicks. /So be it./

          Cayde crouches next to the little girl and prepares to jump out of the way with her when a loud, concussive sound breaks the still air. Hawthorne. Her face is filled with hate as the servitor blasts towards her, sending pieces flying. Cayde catches a shard in the shoulder and winces. The little girl cries and he takes her and hides. 

          It spots them in their escape attempt, and Cayde fires again, hitting it in the central cortex. Another shot. Three. Four. Five. 

          It doesn't seem to stop coming or sending blasts his way. Hawthorne fires again and it recoils, momentarily stunned. Cayde takes his opportunity to slip into the tunnel beneath the wheel well. The building shakes and he hears the sound of wood splintering and breaking. The little girl grips Cayde tight and he puts a hand over her head. 

          "It's okay. It's okay. Hawthorne and Kayleigh will handle it. Shhh." 

          Cayde doesn't know how much of that actually made it out of his mouth, but she clutches him tighter. The gunfire doesn't stop, and Cayde sees the purple glow outside the tunnel. It's single eye turns on him and he looks to the little girl.

          "Run!"

          She gets to the end of the tunnel and looks back, keeping terrified eyes on Cayde. 

          Cayde fires his last bullet at the servitor and it sends a blast hurtling his way. He makes himself as big as possible to keep it away from the girl. He feels a searing heat throughout his body, but the impact never comes. Something from outside finally takes out the servitor and he turns around. The little girl races into his arms and he holds her tight.

          "Where's Mommy?" she murmurs.

          Cayde looks up at the roof of the tunnel, wishing he could reassure her.  _I'm sure she's fine._

          "Can we get Mommy?" she asks, tears building in her eyes. 

          Cayde nods and picks her up, his cloak swishing behind him as his steps over the log in the water. As he walks out the side of the tunnel without servitor parts in the way, he notices that the girl is holding onto a piece of metal in his chest.  _That's not weird._

          "Akaiya!"

          Cayde wants to call to Hawthorne, but it's worth it to see the girl's face light up. "Mommy!"

          Gently putting her feet on the ground, he watches Akaiya run to Hawthorne. Hawthorne looks more than relieved and she pulls Akaiya so close that Cayde momentarily fears the girl will be engulfed. 

          Hawthorne looks at Cayde and Kayleigh stands next to him. Cayde drops to his knees, tired. Shiro plops down next to him in the grass and huffs out a relieved chuckle. 

          "Well, that was fun."

           _I seriously doubt it._  

          The Exo looks a little worse for wear, and he's missing part of his arm guard, but otherwise he seems okay. Kayleigh is obviously fine, but she's looking at Cayde with concern. Looking himself over, he realizes that he has scorch marks all over.

          Finally, she asks the inevitable question. "Are you okay?"

          Cayde's voice box decides not to work again and he nods. After not being blown to shreds by something that should have done so, he's not so sure.


	3. Managing

          So far, Cayde had made friends with the chickens. Hawthorne has taken a shine to him, but he did save her daughter. And in more good news, his Ghost has let him know that his voice box might not be repairable. Cayde didn't remember "Ghaul" tearing out the cord, still doesn't, but apparently his Ghost had to scavenge for wires. His Ghost loves Akaiya to death, and Akaiya has started to look for Hunter gear in Shaxx's Crucible bin. Not that it gets much use right now, but that's not the point. 

          Hawthorne hovers close to her daughter, but she has work to do during the day. Kayleigh works very closely with her, setting up beacons in the field. With a sense of longing, he wishes he could be out there. That means Akaiya gets left with Cayde. And she is so cute wearing Shiro's cloak. She hasn't taken it off since he gave it to her the other day. It's way too big and drags the ground about six inches. Shiro of course, keeps spares, so he looks the same as always. Cayde proudly stitched the hole in his shut all by himself.

          Now he's watching Akaiya pounce around in the barn. Cayde is sitting on the fence in front of the horse, his legs crossed on top of it. 

          She's been trying to sneak up on Cayde for the past hour. She's getting fairly good, but with his sensing back, he catches her every time. She dropped from the rafters once or twice and Cayde nearly blew a gasket. She could so easily have hurt herself.

          Cayde looks around and doesn't see her, but he's got a general direction. He doesn't see her coming at him from anywhere at ground level, so he looks up in the rafters. 

          He doesn't see where she is, but he knows she has to be up there somewhere. Cayde gets distracted in his search by the sudden urge to press his fingertips against his throat. It's like a nervous habit that he's obtained. Sort of like talking and stuttering when he gets defensive. 

          A weight lands on his head and he tumbles off the fence. 

          Akaiya's smile is wider than ever and the Hunter cloak is hanging low over her face. She giggles relentlessly. "I got you! Got you! Got you!" 

          Cayde chuckles and pulls the hood back.  _You sure did, Akaiya._

          "Your turn! Your turn!"

          Cayde gets to hit feet and pulls her up onto his hip, climbing expertly back over the fence with her.  _I'm sure_. He puts her on the ground and gestures for her to go hide. She bounces off into the far reaches of the barn, pulling the cloak's hood back over her head. He claps his hands to signal his counting and he hears her bright giggling down in the other end. Finally, she goes silent and he's got a few seconds of clapping left. 

          His search goes quickly, considering her snickers coming from a small space. However, he pretends to look in other places first, knowing that she can probably see him searching from where she is. He can't just come directly over to her, so he goes quiet and sneaks around. 

          He settles himself just above her hiding spot and kicks up his feet. Now, he'll wait. It doesn't take long for her to crawl out. Before he lets her know he's there, he has to wait for the fire to die down in his chest. Stretching up anywhere seems to upset his frayed wires. Wrapping his knuckles against the wooden frame, she turns and giggles.

          Cayde opens his mouth and decides to give it a go. "Hey, kiddo." 

          Her eyes get so, unbelievably thrilled and Cayde offers her a hand. She grabs it and he pulls her up from the ground into his lap. Cayde thinks to his Ghost and it appears in front of Akaiya's eyes.  _Could you play her my first adventure?_  

          His Ghost trills and casts the projection on the side of the barn. Of course, he leaves out the parts where it got bloody with other guardians. She stays nestled on his chest for a couple hours, and Cayde keeps an arm around her as she falls asleep. Her head ends up under his chin and he lets his Ghost disappear. It's not long after that when Hawthorne returns and she calls for Akaiya. Cayde gently drops down from his perch with her in his arms. He tilts her so that she's curled more towards the gaping hole in his chest and walks smoothly from the barn. 

          Once he gets outside, he sees her mother looking around and wondering where her daughter could be. As far as Cayde knows, Akaiya has always come when she's called. Finally, Hawthorne turns and sees Cayde. 

          She sighs in relief and lets Cayde come to her. Hawthorne smiles and pulls the yellow hood back, smoothing a hand over Akaiya's hair. Cayde gladly passes Akaiya to her mom and heads to his quarters.

          His Ghost has been working almost non-stop to figure out why Cayde isn't dead, but they haven't found much. Cayde, on the other hand was been accomplishing more, slowly patching up the hole in his chest with what few armor materials he can scrounge up. He finally got a good look at his reflection today and decided patching up the hole in his face might be a good idea too. His Ghost had helped him with the meld and he could barely tell where the spare pieces had been grafted on. He feels a little bad for having taken apart a weapon to replace a support in his leg, but he hadn't realized it was missing until his Ghost did a scan. Looking at his Ghost's reflected image of himself, he grabs the paint that he'd managed to.... ahem... _borrow_ from the vault, and paints the metal to it's original color. Once that's finished, the only order of business left is straightening out the kinks, and patching up the hole in his back and he'll be good to go. Not that anyone knows where. 

          His Ghost finally has enough power to heal the connections in his chest and so they close up the hole. The graft is as smooth as the one on his face. For the first time since he woke up in that crater, he feels like he might actually be able to survive his plan. His left eye is back up to ideal brightness and he takes a few moments to admire all their patch work. His Ghost whirs and darts around the room. It feels like it was only yesterday that he lost his Light. He still feels like a part of him is missing, but it's not near as profound. 

          Now that he's back to capacity, he pulls out a map and starts to plan. Supposedly, there's chatter around that Zavala is alive, so Cayde has to get a move on if he's going to get out of this place before the Titan ties him down. Another day. That's all he'll probably be able to pull off before Kayleigh goes to rally the troops. 

          Sighing, he stares up at the ceiling and lies down.  _I'm gonna need to be able to get up close. And I'm also going to need a very big gun. Probably something to have a strategic retreat, but if I have to resort to it, well..... let's not go there._

          Thinking is for Warlocks, but Cayde has always done his fair share of it. More than Ikora has ever thought he has anyway. Who landed a guardian on the Dreadnaught, huh? Cayde, that's who. Well, technically, Amanda gave the okay, but still. He smiles as he thinks of the unruly human.  ** _How about... test flight?_** _Or that. Yeah, that works._

* * *

 

          The next day, Hawthorne takes Akaiya with her down to the antennae farm where the signal is being routed. She claims that she needs to see her daughter at some point. Cayde doesn't mind, considering Saruya needs to spend every moment she can with her daughter. Instead of tinkering around with his plans today, he spends his time building guns. Banshee didn't make it out of the Tower, so someone has to do it. And it's not gonna be any cleaning robot. 

* * *

 

          Hawthorne skips with Akaiya, swinging their clasped hands between them. "Did you have fun yesterday, honey?" she asks. 

          She smiles. "Yeah. We played hide-and-seek, and, and, I snuck up on him once! Then he told me a story!"

          Hawthorne tilts her head. Cayde doesn't talk unless he needs to, but Hawthorne can't say she hasn't noticed him starting to answer but never saying anything. "He told you a story, huh?"

          Akaiya nods and puts out her hand. "His little robot showed me it."

          "His Ghost."

          "Uh huh! And he was dancing!"

          "Dancing? It he good at it?"

          She leaps from stone to stone and giggles. "He was like-" she dashes forwards. "Whoosh! Whoosh!" then she turns around and jumps towards Hawthorne. "Whoosh!"

          Hawthorne chuckles. "It sounds like he was very good!" she picks her daughter up and lifts her over her head. "Shall we dance?" 

          Akaiya pulls up her Hunter hood and Hawthorne does her best to mimic her daughter's description. Delight is all over Akaiya's expression and Hawthorne never wants to see it leave. As Saruya 'dances' from place to place, Akaiya describes another story where Cayde was covered in purple light. And then orange. 

          It's only when they reach the antennae does Hawthorne stop asking questions. She carefully inspects them, glad to find that they are all still in working condition. She checks her traps, and finds one that's been set off. Looking around and straining her ears, she searches for a culprit. She finds what she's looking for in the shadow of a transponder. 

          "Akaiya, don't move!" she shouts. 

          She hears her child's steps stop abruptly, but doesn't dare take her eyes off of the intruder. She grabs the hand canon strapped to her thigh and points it, but she's too late. A weapon with sparking energy fires and she jumps to the side, banging her elbows against the ground. Firing at it, it turns visible and she aims for the head. Shrieks calls out in response to its death and she runs for Akaiya. This was a trap. 

          Sprinting for the gate, she looks back. Neither of them will make it if she doesn't hold them off. "Akaiya, baby, I need to you listen to me." she kneels in front of her, glancing around to make sure they won't be cut short. "I need you to run home, as fast as you can! You need to get Cayde and Shiro." she'd ask for Kayleigh, but she's fairly certain the girl with Light is off-world. "Do you understand, sweetie?" 

          "But, mommy, why can't you come?" she says, distress evident in her eyes. 

          "Because I need to protect you. I need you to run, Akaiya." 

          A chittering noise reaches her ears and she knows they've been found. Akaiya starts to run away just as Saruya is pinned to the ground by a vandal. She shoots it in the head and turns over, seeing the yellow and orange cloak disappearing around the bend. 

          ...

          Akaiya nearly trips over a branch and whines as she sees something move in the trees. The hood over her head protects her from low hanging tree branches. She's crying and scared, and she pauses for a little bit, hesitating at which way to go. Mommy was always with her when she came this way. The rustling in the trees behind her gets close again and she picks out of haste a way to go. Her heart hammers in her chest, but in the distance she can see the barn looming. She knows where she feels safe and she knows who she wants. 

          As she nears the barn she starts to cry out, tears crashing down her face. "Cayde!" she cries. "Daddy!" 

          All the heads in the area turn towards her voice, but she doesn't see him yet. 

          "Daddy!" she calls again, sobbing. 

          Finally, he appears, and she runs for him. He holds onto her and his Ghost appears. "What happened? And why are you calling for your dad?" the Ghost asks. 

          "Something-" she sniffs and chokes on another sob. "Something got Mommy! Daddy, you gotta help Mommy!"

          Cayde seems shocked by something, but she's not sure what it is. His Ghost talks to her and Cayde starts to move into the barn in a hurry. "Shaxx, we have to leave Akiaya with you!" his Ghost calls. 

* * *

 

          The Titan seems dumbfounded, but he takes the crying girl from Cayde's arms. Cayde fires three shots from his hand canon into the air and a group of people poke their heads out. Shiro is by his side in a second, and a few other ready people come with him. Grabbing a spare poncho off of Hawthorne's perch, he breaks into a run. 

          "What happened?" Shiro asks, breaking into a sprint to keep up with Cayde. 

          His Ghost explains. "It sounds like something went wrong up at the antennae and Hawthorne sent Akaiya back to the farm."

          Cayde checks and rechecks his ammo the whole way there. He'd just been up there with Hawthorne three days ago. It was completely safe. He'd set traps himself for anyone who came wandering in. 

          A shout of anger and pain fills the air a little father down the hill and Cayde picks up the pace, fingering a knife at his side. Whatever attacked Hawthorne and Akaiya won't live to regret it. Cayde looks back for the two other people, but only sees one. 

          "Antex stayed back at the farm to make sure nothing followed her home." 

          Cayde swivels his head back around and picks up his pace. Shiro is faster than he is, but Cayde isn't about to let him get to far ahead without help. With a burst of agility, he catches up. Finally, the fallen come into view and Cayde lashes out. The fight seems to last forever, and picking off the last few sparks his anger. 

          Shiro stumbles to a knee, but shakes his head when Cayde turns to help him. "Find Hawthorne. I'll be fine." 

          Oil leaks from his chest, a sure sign that he's going to need some help, but Cayde listens anyway. Finally, the antennae come into view and he takes out the few stragglers hanging around. He looks around and tries to call out for her. He manages two out of the many he tries. Then he sees it. A motionless form on the ground covered in blue and purple catches his attention. He slides to a stop next to her. 

          " _Saruya._ " he says quietly. 

          He turns her over. Blood stains the right side of her poncho and he searches for the wound. When he finds it, the sensors on his fingertips tell him that the blood is still warm. Hawthorne is deathly still, but the warmth that still rests over her might say otherwise. 

          He patches the wound up the best he can. He's almost finished with it when something startles him. He pulls his gun up and fires, seeing a dreg on the other end of the barrel. 

          "Cayde."

          For a moment, he's deaf to the small sound trying to reach him, but he looks down at Hawthorne's face. 

          Her whiskey eyes stare back at him. "Cayde. I'm alright." 

          Relief floods through his systems and he drops his weapon, propping her up. With the expressive metals of his face, he lets her know that he was afraid for her. Hopefully. Then Cayde helps her slip on the spare poncho that he had wrapped around his waist. 

          She puts a protective hand over her side and groans. "Is Akaiya safe?"

          Cayde nods and pulls her to her feet, grabbing the hand canon as he rises. Usually, he'd make a joke about how she would have been fine anyway, but without his usual outlet for emotions he can't settle on silence. He's always worried for friends, and guardians, and all of them, but talking gave him a way out of showing it. Most of the time. Ikora sometimes tells him he talks too much when he's worried. She's about to steps away when he pulls her into a one-armed hug. She stumbles into Cayde with a grunt and looks up at him. 

          Now that he's recovered from the initial shock of nearly losing a person he considers a friend, he lets her continue on. Cayde walks her slowly up the road and he only leaves her side when he sees Shiro on the ground. She follows him and pulls his sidearm from his hip, watching around. 

          "Where's Montan?" Cayde's Ghost asks. 

          "Dead." Shiro answers, twisting onto his side. "Wretch stabbed him in the chest." 

          Cayde sets to work repairing him and Shiro waits patiently. Once he's done, Shiro stretches an arm over his head and Cayde takes it. Shiro is definitely a little shaky, but it could be worse. With his two wounded compatriots safe and sound, he starts to walk back to the farm. He's got a whole vault of things he wants to say, but can't, and he's struggling with it. He hasn't felt like this in a long time and it's driving him crazy. It seems like all he can do to tell people he cares is talk, but now it comes down to physical displays, and it's not working for him. 

          "Why's he walking so fast?" he hears Hawthorne ask.

          "He's upset." Shiro answers quietly. "He doesn't know how to express that."

          "Why doesn't he just tell someone? I know he's not much for talking, but..."

          "Maybe you should ask him."

          Cayde hears every word of their conversation, and he's willing to bet Shiro knows it. He'd be glad Shiro is sticking up for him, but he growls at himself. _Coward._  He's never run from his problems, but now because he can't shout and vent, that's exactly what he's doing.  _I don't know what to do._ He admits that to himself and stops walking.

          Everything around him is broken up. His home is gone. His fireteam is gone. His Light is  _gone._ And he just feels.... lost. And he's supposed to just be able to cope with that? 

          He feels a hand on his shoulder and sees Shiro on his right. "You okay?"

          Cayde smiles sadly and nods. Shiro wouldn't believe that for a second and would most likely check in later. It doesn't really matter. Cayde knows what he has to do to save everyone. 

          What puts a stop to his dark thoughts is the little girl bouncing towards Hawthorne. "Mommy, mommy!"

          She hugs Akaiya, "Hey, sweetie. It's alright now. We're all safe."

          "Did Daddy save you, Momma?" she asks. 

          Cayde sees her raise an eyebrow at him and he scratches the back of his neck. He'd neglected to mention that Akaiya had called him that. Humoring the small girl Hawthorne smiles. 

          "Yes he did. He was very heroic." 

          Shiro limps himself over in the direction of Cayde's room and Cayde follows, ruffling Akaiya's curly brown hair on the way by. 

          When he gets there, he sighs, sitting down on the bed. Shiro is standing next to the door, right where Cayde had sensed him. Cayde's Ghost appears and hovers between the two. 

          "So, what's bugging you?"

          Cayde relays his thoughts to his Ghost, and Wash makes it come out exactly the same as he would say it. 

          "I have to go."

          "Go? Go where? You won't last a minute out there, Cayde."

          "Says you. I can take care of myself. I just have to get my hands on a teleporter, that's all."

          "A teleporter?" Shiro says. "You know that only means one thing, right?"

          Cayde nods. "We'll need it to get close to Ghaul."

          Shiro looks him over and Cayde glares. "There is just no end to your recklessness, is there?" 

          Something in him snaps at that, and his Ghost warns Shiro to move as Cayde stands. A growl tears from his voice box and Shiro's eyes widen as he moves out of the way. He backs against the wall as fire tears through the floor. Cayde looks himself over in shock as the fire dies out.  _What was that?_


	4. Saying Goodbyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember that Wash is Cayde's Ghost. I have to keep reminding myself of that, so please bear with me.

          Cayde's confusion is very evident. He's fairly certain that the fire wasn't him. His Ghost chirps to Shiro as he pulls himself off the floor.

          "Where did that come from?"

          Cayde shakes his head, but then he looks towards the doorway. Akaiya stands there, but there's no fear in her eyes.

           _That was you?_ Cayde's circuits whirl as realization sets in. It wasn't  _him_ in the tunnel with the servitor. It was Akaiya.

          He'd been angry at Shiro, sure, for assuming he was being himself. But he'd never lash out physically at the guy. Akaiya seems to be the only explanation. 

          Cayde's Ghost speaks in his stead as he leaves the room. "Stay with her, Shiro. I have to find Hawthorne."

          It doesn't take him long, since the falcon that hangs around her swoops down at the same time he gets out of the barn. He wonders what she'll think. Guess he going to find out. 

          "Hawthorne!" Wash calls. 

          She turns and Louis flaps his wings to keep his balance.

          In short, Cayde's Ghost explains the whole ordeal in a rush of words. At first Hawthorne seems stunned. Cayde waits for her to answer.

          Finally, Wash speaks again, caution in his tone. "That means that your daughter came into contact with the Traveler somehow."

          "Where could she have possibly done that? She hasn't left here in weeks until today, and it wasn't long enough for her to find anything connected to it. "

          "She saved Cayde once before."

          ".....What? When was this?"

          "When the servitor attacked." 

          She takes a few moments to let that sink in, but then Cayde sees a glint of anger. "And you didn't say anything?"

          "We didn't know...."

          "That's right, you never say anything."

          Cayde feels a prick of guilt, but he hadn't thought it was important at the time. "He can't." his Ghost defends. 

          "He has you for a reason." she gestures to Wash.

          Wash is about to respond when Cayde puts a hand up to stop him. Steeling himself, he puts two fingers to his throat and pulls the halves away from each other. Hawthorne stands on her tiptoes to look and she grimaces. 

          "Okay, so it's a mess in there. I'll give you that. But that still doesn't explain why you didn't have your Ghost say something."

          "We didn't exactly know it was Akaiya. Cayde was protecting her at the time."

          "And yet here we are."

          "You don't seem very fazed by this." Wash says, his singular eye twitching. 

          "You're not surprised by a lot after seeing some of the weird stuff the fallen do. My only question would be what she touched."

          Cayde shrugs. At least she's not mad. 

          She puts a hand to her forehead and sighs. "So, was there something else you needed?"

          "He's leaving tomorrow morning." 

          Cayde looks at his Ghost with a glower.  _That's the first thing you think to say?_

          Wash seems offended. "I'm just trying to help."

          "You know it's dangerous out there, Cayde."

           _Of course I do._

          She leans against the wall, contemplating. "Is Tyra someone you trust?"

          Cayde twitches with the question.  _What does Tyra have to do with this?_

          "Don't look so surprised. I need someone who can take care of Akaiya while I'm working."

          Cayde can't help himself. "Kayleigh." his voice box cracks

          "What about her?"

          "He means that Kayleigh could run operations around here. Akaiya needs her mother around. She needs to be played with."

          Hawthorne looks vaguely shocked that Cayde's Ghost would know that, but then she remembers who her daughter spent the past two weeks with. "Just, say goodbye to her before you go? I'll figure out what to do here. Stay safe, Cayde." 

          Cayde nods and starts to walk away. 

          "I mean it."

          Cayde waves his acknowledgment and continues on his way. He's honestly shocked that Hawthorne didn't try to stop him. He gets back to his quarters and sees Shiro tossing a ball to Akaiya. He's watching her with kind eyes

          "So you're leaving." Shiro states. 

          Cayde barely makes it through the doorway when Akaiya jumps on him. He lifts her over his head so she can sit on his shoulders and she wraps her small arms around his forehead. He nods in response and the Exo turns. 

          "I'm coming with you."

          Wash appears and zips around Shiro's head. "I don't think Cayde would mind a little company."

           _Ohh, I see how it is._ Cayde sees Shiro look to him for confirmation and Cayde just rolls his eyes with a shrug.  _Whatever. You always want me to have backup anyway._

          There's no response to his thoughts, but Cayde could almost swear that the silence has a smug air to it. Shiro tosses Cayde the ball and Akaiya covers his eyes right before he thinks to catch it. It hits him in the head and he flinches.

          Shiro suppresses a snicker and continues on. "You'll need a ship."

           _Is Caskett not good enough?_ Cayde wonders. 

          Akaiya giggles above him and Cayde gently peels her hands away. 

          Wash answers for him. "I can call ours in, if it's still in one piece, that is."

          "It's worth a shot." 

          Suddenly, Wash clicks and whirs. "I've got a connection. It's not downed, at least."

          "Where is it?"

          "It's in Old Russia."

          "Cayde?" Shiro huffs, his voice accusing. "Why is your ship in Old Russia?"

           _Because I'm a Hunter and contingencies are my strong suit?_ Wash tells Shiro exactly what his thoughts were, with sass, and Cayde almost wants to wring his non-existent neck. 

          "Rude." Wash answers. "We just have to hope the Fallen haven't done anything to it."

           _That's the best ship in the 'verse, so nothing better have happened to her._   _Besides, isn't it cloaked?_

          "One would hope so. It's on its way, so at least it flies."

          Shiro rolls his eyes. "I'll be packing up. Have fun, Cayde."

          Cayde takes Akaiya outside, following in Shiro's footsteps. Her orange and yellow cloak bounces as she does when she sees her mom. Hawthorne sets Louis on her shoulder, since it's protected by the cloak, and the bird pulls hay from her hair. She pets his head and he seems to preen under her gaze. Then he turns and flies off, the hay still in his mouth. 

          Cayde hears a whine in the air and sees the falcon circling back around as a shadow in the clouds darkens. His blue eyes flick towards it and he watches his ship emerge.  _Oh, you gorgeous old rust bucket. Come to daddy._

          She only looks like crap on the outside. Hopefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shipping jokes come in the common engrams. That and references to everything.


	5. Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cayde and Shiro leave the farm to start their awesome adventure on, you guessed it, Nessus! :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

          The ship appears to be functional. The paint is definitely in need of help, and the wires hanging from the bottom aren't a good statement as to the quality of the pulse engines, but it's in one piece. Wash seems happy to see it and zips inside quick. 

          "Looks like we're in for a long flight." he chirps, obviously pleased. "Ah, my sweet Lozetha. You are as beautiful as the day Cayde left you in the Cosmodrome."

           _You are aware that she's not even an AI, right?_

          "Coming from the one who calls it a 'she'." Wash snaps back. 

           _The sass from you. Unbelievable. I thought we were friends._  

          Wash dutifully ignores him. "I'll get started on the repairs. It should only be a few hours until she's sea worthy."

          Cayde chuckles to himself and runs a light finger over the wing. The faded black and red paint stirs up old memories and he smiles, knowing it won't be long before they're out causing trouble again. It's a strange thought. After being sworn in as a member of the Vanguard, the invisible chain of duty kept him from ever leaving. He doesn't even know how many times he's hinted (not even subtlety) that he'd love to go outside again. Now, he's about to shed that restriction after years of just standing around listening to the action. Given, it'll be a lot more dangerous now than it was then, but that doesn't matter. 

          "You know, when Shiro told me you had a ship, I didn't think it would be this hunk of junk." 

           _Rude._ Cayde huffs to himself and pats a hand on the wing before turning.  _You know Hawthorne, I'd have thought after saving your life you'd be more polite._

          Hawthorne smirks at him. "How bad is she on the inside?"

          Cayde shrugs and heads to the back, opening up the hatch. Hawthorne ducks inside and looks around. Cayde leans against the side panel and watches her rifle through his stuff. 

          "Ohhh- ha ha! Is every cloak you've ever worn in here? It's like a closet over here!"

          If Cayde could blush, he would be beet red by now. He'd forgotten about his habit of hoarding cloaks.  _As long as she doesn't find the..._

          "And what do we have here?" she asks, a smile clearly evident in her voice. "Is this..... aw Cayde. Are these  _kitten posters_?" 

           _Wash, go get Colonel to defend me._  

          The chicken appears on top of the posters and clucks at her, tilting his head adorably. At least in Cayde's opinion it's adorable. Colonel swipes his beak against the poster and Hawthorne turns to Cayde. 

          "Where did he come from?" 

          Instead of letting Wash answer, Cayde shrugs from his casual position on the wall. He's ever so thankful that the horror he feels isn't easily displayed over his features. Colonel flaps his wings and manages to hover over to Cayde's shoulder. 

           _Get rid of those posters._  

          They disappear, but Cayde doesn't expect more to appear in their place. 

          He doesn't bother with them after Hawthorne redirects her attention to the cockpit. "Roomy." she opens up a box on the console and checks through it. "What are all these numbers?"

          Cayde peers around her and opens his mouth to answer. "My-" 

          He wants to growl in frustration, but his voice box has already cut out, so that won't work. Instead, he steers her from the cockpit and out of the ship. She looks up at him and he meets her eyes. Colonel still sits on his shoulder and his head comes into view, breaking their gaze. Cayde chuckles and puts the chicken on the ground as Hawthorne turns to leave. 

          After that, Cayde spends most of the night thinking. Shocker, he knows, but there's not much else to do unless Wash forces his systems to shut down to knock him out. Cayde would do it himself, but he's definitely not doing it. He doesn't want to wander recent memories. Not right now.

          "You need to rest." 

           _I'm a robot. What do I need rest for?_

          Wash doesn't seem to have an answer, but he can feel the Ghost prying into his circuits. 

           _Not tonight, Wash._

          "Some of these are still damaged. If you'd sleep, it would give me a chance to fix them."

           _Unless my Light magically comes back, there's nothing that'll change it. It's not like I'm not already damaged anyway._

          "What do you think I do when you're asleep? I fix you. That's my job." Wash growls. "If you won't let me do my job then we're all dead."

           _You're awake all the time?_

          "Don't flip this on me, Cayde. You worry about yourself for once, and tend to your own needs."

           _That's not who I am._

          Wash sighs. "I know. That's why you're a Vanguard. Now sleep."

          Cayde would love to argue, but Wash isn't giving him an option. His neural switches start to flip off and Cayde turns over, his eyes going dark. He drifts in the infinite abyss of slow pulses of energy. The pull of more recent memories is always stronger, and he wants to resist them. At least with his Ghost reigning supreme over his circuits, there's no way for him to thrash or move. He'd been ready for another day at the office when the tower was destroyed. 

          And of course, the most prominent is the absolute helplessness he felt as he was tossed aside to watch. He hadn't even realized it before, but the sound of Ghaul kicking Kayleigh across the length of the viewing deck was sickening. It all is.

          Then the days he spent with Akaiya come to him, and his pointless conversations with Shiro. He rests easy.

          It doesn't seem to be long after that that he snaps awake. 

          "Good morning, Cayde." Wash greets him. "Pleasant dreams?"

          _Eat a rock, sunshine_. Cayde grumbles, sitting up. 

          Colonel clucks and scrapes his beak on the edge of the bed. He crows and picks at the dirt on Cayde's boots. 

          Sensing someone at the door, Cayde turns. "Morning, Cayde." Shiro says, smirking. "Ready to go?"

          "Whenever you are."

          "Hawthorne will kill me if I don't remind you to say goodbye to Akaiya, but other than that, we're set. Your Ghost finished preparations while you were out."

           _Figures._ Cayde nods, getting up. Colonel follows him out as he leaves. He sees Hawthorne already sending out patrols to the borders in the court next to the water fountain. Akaiya is by her side until she sees Cayde coming close. 

          "Daddy!" she says, pulling up her hood and jumping on him. 

          Shiro chuckles. "I see how it is. Where's the love?" 

          Cayde smirks at him and positions Akaiya over his hip. His smiles at her and she giggles, tugging at his black hood and hugging him around the neck. He squeezes her back and pulls the hood down.  _There you are, kiddo._

          He walks her over to the ship and Hawthorne follows close behind him. He takes a good amount of time to get there as he comes up with a way to tell her goodbye without his Ghost having to say it for him. He puts her down as he reaches the back gate and she looks up at him expectantly. 

          She looks at the open ship and it hurts when Cayde sees that she reaches the conclusion that he's leaving. "Do you have to go?"

          Cayde nods and his metal hand holds her flesh one as he crouches in front of her. 

          "Are you coming back?" she asks, her eyes glittering with tears. 

           _Hopefully._ Cayde nods again and she starts to cry. He pulls her close and he can feel how tightly she holds onto him with the pressure sensors in his neck. He puts her out at arms length and prays for his voice box to work. 

          "-" his voice box cracks. "- promise." 

          He wipes the tears from under her eyes with gentle fingers. He sure has gotten awfully attached to Akaiya. He puts a hand on top of her head and stands, letting Hawthorne take her. 

          "If you end up dead during this, I will find you and kill you." Saruya says, glaring. 

          Cayde dips his head to her.  _I expect nothing less._

          Cayde's Ghost nudges Akaiya on the way by and she waves. Shiro pats her head and gets in the ship, his matching cloak seeming to blend with hers on the way. Cayde summons his charm and salutes Saruya with a grin as the hatch closes up. She shakes her head and picks Akaiya up, walking away. 

          Wash gets the ship moving and Cayde sits up in the pilot's seat, taking over. Shiro kicks his feet up and Cayde slaps him.  _Feet off my console._ Shiro looks slightly offended, but just shakes his head. 

          "Where are we goin' for our teleporter?" Shiro asks. 

          Cayde smirks. Right down to business. Not unlike Cayde with his glimmer debts. Wash appears and informs Shiro of his plans to go to Nessus and retrieve one from the Vex. 

          "And may I ask.... why you know exactly where to find a Vex teleporter?" 

           _Don't tell him that. Please?_ Cayde could almost swear that his Ghost is smirking evilly at him right now. Shockingly, the Ghost doesn't say anything. 

          Shiro is still looking at him, searching for an answer. 

          "You don't need to know that." Wash finally answers.

          Shiro huffs. "You Vanguard and your stories you hint at but never tell."

          Cayde laughs to himself, putting his feet up on the console. Shiro's eyes widen with mock betrayal and Cayde tilts his head back against the seat after putting the ship on autopilot. In roughly twenty minutes, they'll be at Nessus and then it's off to Ghaul. Smooth sailing from here.


	6. Not as Planned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things don't go quite the way that Cayde would like them to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Bungi/Activision or any of it's members. I only own my original characters.

          Right.  _What was that thing that I thought about smooth sailing?_   _Right. Well, I was wrong._

          "Cayde?" 

          He can hear someone try to get his attention, but his circuits are all messed up. He doesn't know what happened. All he sees is darkness, and it kind of scares him. The last time.... _I don't remember the last time._  

          "Cayde! Wake up!" 

          He knows that voice. "W-." Right. Voice box.  _Wash?_

          "You have to get up, Cayde!"

           _I don't even know which way is up. I can't-_

          "Hold on." 

          Light floods into his eyes rather suddenly and Cayde winces, putting a hand up to block it. He remembers how to use his legs and stumbles to his feet. He takes a look around and huffs.  _Made it to Nessus at least._ He takes a step and drops to a knee. Wash buzzes nervously around his head.

           _Did we crash?_

          "Does it  _look_ like we crashed?"

           _Feels like we did. Where's the ship?_  

         "I don't think that's what we should be worried about." 

         Cayde gives the area another once-over now that he's lucid and sees Fallen creeping closer.  _Where's Shiro?_

         "He's over in those bushes. He's unconscious though."

           _Go check on him. I'll find a gun._  

          Wash disappears and Cayde makes his way over to the wreckage. His hand cannon lies half buried behind the ship. Shaking the dirt out of it, he spins the clip to check his ammo. Still full. Slapping it back shut, he rustles around looking for more. Something snags his hood and he whips around. A Dreg pushes him into the side panel of the ship and Cayde fires off a round. Pain sears in his arm as a Wretch slashes at him. Another shot dispatches it and he takes the spear in his free hand. He sees a Captain looming a small distance away and discards the information. He'll have to wait. 

          Fighting with all of his skill and agility, he finally makes it through the rabble. 

          The Captain is watching him. It takes slow steps towards him and Cayde raises his hand cannon. Intelligence glitters in its eyes and Cayde becomes wary. A screech is his only warning before he's taken to the ground by a Vandal. Hands disarm and restrain him from behind and Cayde looks up, seeing the Captain directly in front of him now. 

           _Go ahead. It's your move, big guy._

          As Cayde watches him, the Captain seems to debate with what to do. Finally, a sword slashes downwards at him and Cayde snags the blade between his calf and thigh. He twists to the side and snaps the blade, escaping the hold of the Vandal. Grabbing his hand cannon, he kills the Vandal first. The Captain teleports and Cayde turns, narrowly avoiding a blade to the side. Scrabbling up the Captain's back, he grabs one of the three swords leftover and plunges it into the creature's chest. Its back arches and he... no, not 'he', she staggers to her knees. 

          A brief memory flickers through his mind, but he ignores it. He doesn't need that distraction right now, not as he watches her collapse. 

           _Shiro._

          Cayde makes his way over to the downed Exo. Kneeling next to Shiro, Cayde finds Wash hovering over his head. 

          "Good fight?" Wash asks. 

          Cayde huffs.  _Not good enough. Got disarmed._ Cayde shows his forearm to the Ghost and Wash sits in silence. 

          "Almost literally, huh?"

          A crackling sigh escapes Cayde and he smiles at Wash.  _Almost literally._

          Wash scans Shiro a few more times before settling on a decision. "He's not waking up anytime soon. He needs a few repairs."

          Cayde nods.  _We could sure use some help, eh pal?_  

          What self-respecting Fallen would ever help, is the only question they have left. 

          "Hello!" 

          Cayde jumps when he hears the new voice.  _What are you?_

          "My name is Failsafe! I am an AI."

           _And you're talking to us, why?_

          "I've been watching you since you arrived!"

           _That's not creepy at all._

          "You have killed the Fallen, and I have decided that I want to help you find what you're looking for! _If you don't kill me too._ "

          Cayde looks at Wash helplessly, and he seems to shrugs in response.  _Well, we're actually looking for quite a few things._

          "Your wish is my command!" she chirps. " _If the Fallen don't kill you._ "

          Wash whispers. "There's something wrong with her."

          "I assure you, friendly Ghost, I am perfectly capable!  _Major glitches aside._ "

           _Oh, well.... um, I'm Cayde. Cayde-6, actually._  

          "I know!"

           _You know?_

          "The last time you visited Nessus, I was here too!  _The Vex still hate you._ "

          If Cayde's voice worked, that comment would have been like a boost to his 'ego', as Zavala would call it. Then he'd tell Failsafe not to encourage him. 

          "Why didn't you say anything?" Wash asks.

          "It took me awhile to get my speech drive up and running after we crashed. It was inoperable! The Ace of Spades was here almost daily!" she grumbles something about 'getting a life'. 

           _Right. Uh, will you help me find the Vex teleporter that I hid?_

          "Accessing data banks!" there's a brief pause. "The Vex have not touched the teleporter! It is very fortunate that you hid it in an old Minotaur worship site!"

           _How many Vex do I have to kill to get there?_  

          " _All alone_. I mean, all of them! With the Light gone, you have less than one percent chance of survival!"

          Cayde busies himself with untangling Shiro's cloak from the brambles. Failsafe waits expectantly, surprisingly patient. Reluctant to leave him alone, especially unconscious of all things, Cayde debates with himself on what to do. 

           _Wash, do what you have to to get Shiro up and running. I'm going after that teleporter._

          "Cayde!" Wash objects. "That's...."

           _I'll be careful, I promise._ _Someone has to stay with Shiro, but the longer we wait, the closer Ghaul gets to his goal._

          Wash looks as if he's going to refuse with the way he tilts backwards, but he says nothing. Cayde waits him out, mostly because if he doesn't get Wash to say specifically that he'll stay, he will appear as soon as Cayde gets hurt.

          "Fine. Go get yourself killed. I'll fix up Shiro as well as I can, but as soon as he's ready to go, we're coming to you."

          Cayde stands, resolute. Turning from Wash, he asks Failsafe for directions. 

          "Head away from the friendly Ghost and turn right!  _He's super mad._ "

          Cayde sighs to himself, but does as she asks. It's a long walk, and the terrain has changed a little bit. Of course, the last time he was here, he hadn't crash landed either.

          He nervously spin his hand cannon and tucks it back into its holster. 

          "A nervous gesture is a sign of regret." Failsafe says, way too cheerily. 

           _Yeah. Yeah, it is._

          "Would you like me to tell the friendly Ghost you are sorry?"

           _No._ That would be the easy way out, and Wash wouldn't take that kind of crap from him anyway. Never has. And that's exactly the reason why he's working Cayde's lack of voice to get what he wants. Cayde huffs. Wash is more ruthless than the best hunter when he wants something. 

          Cayde runs a metal hand over the ridge of his knife, taking comfort in the fact that he knows it's sharp. The gap in the wall looks familiar once he gets closer and he tells Failsafe to stop giving him directions. That doesn't make her stop talking though. 

          "Did you know that the Vex used to sacrifice each other to their gods?  _I do, because I've been here for centuries._ "

          "A young hunter would have been dead by now. How old are you?" she asks. 

           _To be honest, I wish I knew._

          " _You're old._ " she muses, holding out the 'old' part. 

          Cayde nods in response and leaps from dry spot to dry spot. No one is in the tunnels for the moment, so Cayde is able to slip into the small tunnel that leads towards the teleporter. He looks up at the wall, the carved circle looming above his head. 

          Climbing up onto the big rock, he jumps for it. He slams into the stone hard, but manages to get his arms into the circle. His metal fingers scrabble for purchase on the smooth rock and he makes the mistake of looking down. It's not the height that he's afraid of. Directly below him is a pool of mind fluid, and it does not look like the kiddie-pool. The synthetic tendons in his fingers start to strain and he locks the joints of one hand in place. 

          He can't see the rocks below the surface, and without being able to jump if he falls, he'll most likely die. And that would sting. The scraping of the two solids makes a screech, not loud, but enough to make Cayde wince. He's slipping. Panic grips his limbs and he braces himself.

          There's a woosh of air and suddenly, hands are grabbing his own. Cayde looks up at his savior and sees Shiro's smiling face. "You look like you could use some help."

           _How did you get here?_

          Wash appears. "You are very lucky that I've always been able to transmat things to you. I'm sure you'll thank me later."

          Cayde would be more grateful, but Wash is drooping even more than he had been when they left. He'd been getting stronger, but now he looks wiped again. Wash disappears again, mostly for the ease of movement. Cayde's worry for the Ghost doesn't seem to deter the little Light any. 

          Shiro drags him up the side of the stone and Cayde flexes the one hand. "Be more careful next time, eh Cayde?" Shiro says, smirking. "You've always had a bit of a height advantage, but no vertical."

          Cayde bear hugs him to signify his gratitude and jumps down into the next room. Shiro is courteous enough to not mention the hugging that Cayde's gotten into the habit of, but Cayde can tell that it hasn't gone unnoticed. Cayde leads the way and Shiro listens to the drone of Failsafe. 

          "Hello, young hunter!" 

          "Hello again, Failsafe."

          She says 'hello to him roughly every ten seconds, and Cayde is guessing that it's to see if she can garner a different response from him, but he's not giving in. 

          "Hello, young hunter."

          "Hello, Failsafe."

          Shiro sighs and looks to Cayde for help. "What do I do?"

           _One does not simply escape Failsafe once she likes you._

          Cayde smiles as she voices her greeting again and Shiro looks to him. Cayde encourages him to answer and Shiro nods. "Failsafe?"

          "Yes, young hunter?"

          "You can call me Shiro, okay?"

          "Shirokay sounds good to me, young hunter.  _The Cayde Unit is old._ "

          Cayde shakes his head. They walk past the crystals sticking straight out of the ground and down another tunnel. Finally reaching the small room with the teleporter inside, Cayde sighs to himself.  _It'll take some work to get it to do what I want, but after that, it's straight to Ghaul._

Cayde turns the center dial to open up the array of spines and tinkers with a few of them. After pulling out a component in particular, it closes around his hands and his eyes widen in shock. White light squares form around him and then Shiro is shouting his name.  _This.... is a problem._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was reading a couple pieces of Cayde's grimoire and found a couple of things, so those might be in here sooner or later. Sorry for the slightly late post. It took me a little bit to figure out what I was going to do. I also figured that there was a reason Cayde looked slightly freaked when it closed on his hand later, so I made this wonderful tidbit. :) Hope you guys enjoy this as much as I do.


	7. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cayde gets his teleporter.

          Hawthorne looks up at the sky, Akaiya sitting in her lap. 

          Akaiya sits quietly, letting her mother card gentle fingers through her hair. The yellow hunter's cloak is still hanging off of her small shoulders, but she's got most of it wrapped around her as a blanket. it's not often that they sit out under the stars, but Saruya thought it would be good to stay out for a change. 

          "Momma, where's Daddy?"

          Hawthorne sighs. Akaiya misses Cayde so much, and if she's completely honest with herself, she does too. "He's up there somewhere, sweetie."

          "When is he coming back?" she asks, sniffing. 

          "I'm not sure."

          "He'll come." she says quietly. "He promised."

          Saruya smiles softly at her daughter and presses a kiss to her temple. "That's right."

          Akaiya snuggles a little deeper into the cloak around her and falls quickly asleep. Saruya looks back up to the stars and speaks a quiet prayer. "Come back safe, Cayde. For both out sakes."

          She turns her head as she hears heavy footsteps coming up behind her. Pressing a finger to her lips, she watches Zavala bow his head respectively. "It's a nice night."

          Hawthorne nods and takes a deep breath of air. 

          "It would do us all some good to sleep under the stars every once in awhile."

          Hawthorne tilts her head back to look at him. "Did you need something, commander?"

          "I only seek a couple of answers."

          "Fire away."

          "To start, why did you let Cayde go?"

          Hawthorne frowns, and hard, judging by the look on Zavala's face. "What do you mean, 'why'? It was what he wanted to do, and it's for the good of everyone here."

          Zavala considers this, and considers his words wisely before opening his mouth again. "He's always been a bit of a... free spirit."

          "So? You can't tell me bein' out in the field after years of sitting around doing nothing doesn't feel good, Zav."

          He nods in agreement. "If Cayde wasn't itching to get out of the Tower, he was planning something _to_ get out of the Tower."

          "I seem to recall telling Kayleigh something about a place that you can't leave that has walls. It's called a prison, commander."

          His brow furrows. "I am aware. And I know he wants to be outside the city walls. It's who a Hunter is."

          Saruya nods, smiling softly. "Is he always so quiet?"

          "He what?" Zavala's brows shoot up, as if he can't fathom the idea. "Cayde is not quiet. What would make you think that?"

          "I'll let him explain. It's not my place."

          "If he gets back in one piece, I shall endeavor to ask him."

          "He won't say a word." she sighs. 

          "Perhaps not." Zavala looks up into the sky. "He's always been reckless. And obnoxious. I just.... want him to be safe. I want Ikora to be safe."

          "You care a lot about 'em, don't ya?" 

          "They're my fireteam. And my family." he answers, quiet in the still air. "Ikora is the brains, I'm the brawn, and Cayde is... Cayde is the heart."

          She frowns at him, yet again, and he looks her in the eye. "Have you ever heard him laugh? Really laugh?"

          He opens his mouth to respond, but nothing is said. There's a victorious glint to her eyes and Zavala looks to be at a loss for words. "It's been a long time."

          Her victory is short-lived at how much feeling swells for Cayde. Zavala is quiet for the next ten minutes or so, just contemplating the nature of his answer. She smooths out the edge of her poncho, compared its ratty edge to the clean cut of the hunter cloak on her daughter. 

          "Was there something else you needed to ask?"

          He takes a breath and looks away. "No. I... I think I got what I needed." he looks as if he wants to ask her something else, but he walks away into the shadows of the barn. 

          "Ask, Zav. There won't be many other chances."

          "I don't wish to pry, but... who is the 'daddy' that your daughter is referring to?" 

          Saruya huffs, deciding to ruffle his feathers. "You'll meet with him soon. He'll be back."

          Zavala only smiles. "I'm sure he's quite a charmer."

           _Oh, if only you knew._

* * *

          Cayde tugs at the spines, but they don't move. Shiro crouches and tips the teleporter to the side, looking for any switches that are within reach. Cayde watches him for a few moments. Shiro tinkers with what he can see for a bit, and electricity arcs through Cayde. A broken up screams tears from Cayde's voice box and Shiro jumps in surprise. Light floods from the teleporter, temporarily blinding Cayde.

          When he comes around, he puts a hand down to catch himself and floats in a circle. He struggles to gain balance as he spins around, and it takes every ounce of willpower to stay calm while being completely out of control. Shifting his body weight little by little, Cayde gets himself upright. Wash appears with him and he calms a little bit. 

          "Are you okay?" 

          Cayde nods, and swings an arm out as he loses balance again. 

          "Hey, take it easy." Wash nudges him back into the upright position and hovers carefully. 

           _This.... is a problem._

          "I can't really get a get a reading on what's going on outside this....- thing, but from what I can tell, Failsafe is communicating with someone."

           _Who?_

          "Well, Shiro, mostly."

           _Who else?_

          "I don't know. They're too far away."

           _Can you at least tell what Falisafe is saying?_

          "She's.... broadcasting something." his form expands a little, his speaker crackling as he attempts to intercept it. " _ **-In over my head!.... Vex trap?... Failsafe?**_ "

           _Hey! That's my voice! How is she doing that? I never said that!_  

          "I can't really tell. Maybe spliced recordings?"

           _I've been here all of three hours._

          "Not according to her." Wash answers. "You were here before, remember?"

          Cayde huffs to himself.  _Yeah, I just wish I remembered everything else._

          Wash has nothing to say the that, but Cayde doesn't have time to think about it as he's yanked somewhere else. Appearing upside-down, Cayde tries to level out. Wash does most of the work and Cayde twists around, trying to figure out where in the 'verse he is. As he finally gets reoriented, Kayleigh appears in the corner of the room. Cayde waves at her, but throws his arms up to defend his face as something breaks through the time barrier.  _Hydra._

          She's investigating something on the walls, and Cayde tries to shout to her. "K-" his voice box cracks. "-" Wash chirps at her insistently and she finally turns around. 

          Cayde watches in muted horror as a flowing tentacle hits her in the face, sending her flying. Cayde turns towards her new position to make sure she's okay and sees her pulling off her helmet with a grimace. The glass looks less than okay. She pulls a small shard from above her eye out with a wince and stands, her face full of anger. A Minotaur comes up to her, but she punches a hand through it's power core with a red orange glow surrounding her. She pulls her sword and charges at the Hydra.  _Wow, she is_ mad. Fire twists around her as she sends wreathes of flame towards the Hydra, and she tosses grenades into some goblins. Pulling her Sunshot, she floats midair and aims for the Hydra's eye. 

          Cayde flinches as some Slap Rifle shots come his way. It wouldn't have been so bad, but the Hydra teleported back towards Cayde and lashed out with it's floaty appendages. It passes through him, of course, but Cayde doubles over as the circuits in his abdomen and chest burn. 

          "Cayde, your body temperature just spiked!" Wash exclaims. "Hold on. I've gotta make sure you've got enough coolant."

          Cayde shields his eyes from a blast and Wash starts muttering to himself. "You got out without your Light and decide, 'oh today, what a lovely day to risk death!' You know who does that? Crazy people, Cayde."

           _You worry too much._

          Finally, Cayde sees Kayleigh come up to him. He waves and she smiles up at him. 

          "You know, I think I'm starting to see why they don't want to let you out of the Tower."

          Cayde frowns in mock hurt and crosses his arms, which ends up setting him off balance and his flips over. His cloak flips over his head and he struggles with it as Wash sets him back upright. 

          "I personally don't see what their problem is. The trouble you get yourself into is always amusing, at least."

          He doesn't have to answer, due to being swept away by the time loop thingy again, and he floats in lazy circles as he waits. Finally, he appears in some crater-like area with a crashed ship nestled into the corner. He doesn't expect to fall to the ground, so when he does it's  _quite_ graceful. He rolls down the slope into a throng of Fallen and holds his breath. They look down at him as if he's the biggest idiot on the planet before screeching out a call. 

          Cayde pulls his hand cannon and lays waste to most of them, backing himself up towards the old ship.  _Where am I?_ He slides a hand along the metal and makes his way in. 

          "Welcome to the Exodus Black!  _Where all your dreams come true."  
_

          It takes Kayleigh a little bit to get into the crater, and when she does, there's a rather large Captain waiting for her, but she handles it the same as ever. While he waits, he plays cards, flipping the Ace of Spades thoughtfully over one hand and into the deck.  _Ah, card tricks. The day you cease to soothe me...._

          Kayleigh huffs when she enters, seeing him lying on the floor with all his cards laid out in front of him. "I see you're making good use of your time."

          Cayde rubs his chest to gauge the temperature and Wash appears, letting him know that he's cooled significantly. Standing, Kayleigh approaches him with a sarcastic smirk on her face. He peers into her light blue eyes and wraps an arm around her. She seems a little surprised, but she lets him do it anyway.  _Made it back safe yet again, Kayleigh._

          Wash and Jake do their secret.... handshake? They don't exactly have hands, but that's what it reminds him of. Kayleigh and Cayde let them finish before she gives Cayde the teleporter. 

          "This better have been worth it Cayde. I wrecked another helmet for it."

          He smiles, but then something, an inkling really, reminds him of something he's missing. "Shiro?"

          She frowns. "He came with you?"

          "Yeah, he should have been with the teleporter." Wash answers, worry coating his electronic tone. 

          "He wasn't."

          A knock on the frame of the ship startles them. "That," he grunts, shooting at something outside. "...-is because I am still cleaning up your mess."

          Cayde releases the non-existent breath that he hadn't realized he was holding. Failsafe declares the area clear with a chipper tone as Cayde walks up to Shiro. Shiro takes a slightly hitched step towards him and lets Cayde clap him on the back. 

          Cayde tinkers with the teleporter, much the Shiro's objection, and Cayde quickly agrees when it closes around his hand again. He jerks it out, determined not to go for a round two with the stupid machine. He tucks it under his arm and smiles, letting Kayleigh know that he's ready. 

          "Sorry to leave you so soon, Failsafe, but we've gotta get back to the farm." Kayleigh says. 

          She sighs. " _All alone._ "

          "We'll come back." Jake assures. 

          Cayde smiles and salutes Failsafe's hard drive.  _Never change._

          Soon after that he's in Kayleigh's ship, patiently (not-so-patiently) awaiting their arrival at the farm.

          "So, do you have any ideas at where Ikora is? Because we should probably pick her up."

          Cayde offers a sad smile in response, getting Wash to explain. She'd always believed that the Traveler would show her what she wished to know. 

          "Did you want to get her first?"

          Cayde nods and heads to the back. It seems like forever for Kayleigh to get back on the ship with Ikora in tow, but maybe that's just his nerves. Shiro smiles knowingly at him from the other side. 

          "Cayde. It is good to see you are well." Ikora greets.

          Cayde shrugs, smiling a little. His lack of words has Ikora's eyes narrowing, but she doesn't say anything.  _Good to see you too._

          Kayleigh carefully lands the ship at the farm to let all of her passengers out. Zavala and Hawthorne stand ever vigilant. Not that that matters because he sees a small form wearing a big cloak boucing towards him. 

          "Daddy! Daddy!" Akaiya giggles. 

          Cayde smiles gently at her and crouches, catching her as she runs to him.  _Hey, kiddo._

          Zavala and Ikora's looks of shock is enough to brighten any Hunter's day. " _Daddy_?" they say, in good unison too.

          Cayde sees Hawthorne grinning behind them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always think this: "-" , looks like a very unimpressed face.


	8. Discovery

          " _Daddy?_ " 

          Cayde pulls Akaiya close to him and she giggles. He looks at Ikora, who is now standing next to Zavala wearing the exact same expression of shock. His eyes flick down to the ground as he realizes what them being back together means. He'll have to resume his duties as the Hunter Vanguard, and eventually leave Akaiya and Hawthorne behind. 

          Cayde stands with Akaiya settled on his hip, waiting for his team to say something. 

          Zavala speaks first. "What's going on?"

          Cayde is about to answer when Hawthorne calls to him. "Hey, Cayde! I need some help with somethin'!"

           _Saved by the Hawthorne._ Cayde bobs his head to Zavala and Ikora as he walks by, and Akaiya waves at Shaxx, who is standing beside the barn. Shiro walks with him, greeting people and being the sociable one. Kayleigh pulls Ikora up into the barn to let her scope out the best vantage point. When Cayde reaches Saruya, she's smiling. Shiro wanders off to talk to Tyra somewhere and Cayde smiles at Akaiya.

          "Kayleigh has been a big help. Thanks for suggesting her." Cayde nods. "But-"

          He tilts his head.

          "Having to send her to rescue you was not my idea of fun." She looks into his blue eyes with her whiskey ones. "I was worried."

          Cayde puts Akaiya down and Wash appears to play with her. She jumps up and down, giddy, and Wash zips away. Cayde looks back to Hawthorne and catches hints of the softest smile he's ever seen on her. She slides into his embrace easily and he gives her shoulder a comforting squeeze. 

           _I won't leave that easily._

          "A couple of people showed up while you were gone." she says, her voice quiet. "Fancy sayin' hello? One was Zavala, so you know him. But the other?"

           _That depends on who it is._  

          She walks towards the barn, and Cayde slings an arm over her shoulder. Akaiya manages to work her way back over to the pair and she leaps on Cayde's back, holding onto his cloak for leverage. She climbs up to his shoulder and Hawthorne chuckles. 

          "You've been rubbing off on her." she smiles, humming contentedly. "I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. She's been climbin' the walls since you left."

           _Long as she doesn't gather my talent for accumulating Glimmer debts, she'll be just fine._

          Cayde puts a gentle hand on her leg to make sure she stays steady up there, and they finish their walk into the barn. 

          A clanging off to his right gets his attention and he turns, seeing a familiar tattooed arm swinging a hammer. As if sensing his presence, she sits up and swipes grease from her face. She only succeeds in smearing it across her forehead. 

          "Cayde-6. You're still alive?" she chuckles. "It's good to see you."

          Cayde smiles at her and releases Hawthorne to hug Amanda with a single arm.  _You too, Am._

Akaiya reaches for the black lines on her arm and Amanda looks at her. "Well, well, well. Aren't you just an angel? I didn't figure Cayde for havin' someone as smart as you on his shoulder."

          "She's apparently also got Light, so I wouldn't get on her bad side." Wash warns, appearing out of thin air. 

          She looks at Akaiya in slight wonder. "Light? Shouldn't there be a little Ghost runnin' after her? Or, floatin' I guess?"

          "I guess it just hasn't found her yet. She touched something that the Traveler did, we think."

          "We've been keeping it quiet." Hawthorne says, an edge to her tone. 

          Cayde wraps his arm back around her shoulder and she seems to relax.  _It's okay, I trust her._

          Akaiya giggles at all the attention, her chocolate brown eyes crinkling at the edges.

          He tenses as someone calls his name. 

          "Cayde!" Zavala calls. "We have much to discuss. It is getting late."

          Cayde gives Hawthorne a reassuring tug before passing Akaiya to her. Akaiya tugs on Cayde's hood and he chuckles to himself. He presses an Exo kiss to her forehead before turning and joining Zavala at the door.

          Zavala's stare is piercing, but Cayde just saunters past him. Ikora's gaze is warmer, but still full of curiosity.  _Warlocks and their thirst for knowledge._  

          Cayde picks up Colonel on his way into the horse barn and the chicken seems quite pleased to see him. That earns him an eyebrow raise.  _Am I really acting that different?_

          Once they get inside, Zavala closes the doors. Cayde hops back up next to the horse and it nickers at him in greeting. He strokes its muzzle for a brief moment before turning his attention back to Zavala. 

          Cayde catches both of his teammates looking at him. "What?" he asks, shrugging his shoulder. He's very thankful for his picky voice box in that moment. 

          "You seem very.... relaxed." Ikora says. 

          Cayde rolls his eyes and gestures for them to get on with it. That's always been something that Cayde does, so they don't question that, at least. 

          "The first thing we'd like to address is the Guardian with Light."

          "Kayleigh." Cayde corrects, ignoring the scratch he feels in his throat. 

          Ikora glares. "Do you want me to continue, or do you want to argue?" Cayde wins their little stare down and she sighs. "Kayleigh came into contact with a shard, as I understand it, of the Traveler."

          She looks to Cayde for confirmation and he nods. 

          "So we need to get her on the Almighty." Zavala says, straightening at the edge of the rickety card table. "That's our only chance for survival if killing Ghaul fails."

          "We'll make it a round trip." Ikora says. "She'll go for the Almighty first, while we set up a rendezvous just in range of Ghaul."

          "How are we splitting up?" Zavala asks, his hand moving to the table to draw in the dust. "Say this-" he draws a circle in the dust. "-Is the Almighty. Will Kayleigh be able to handle that by herself?"

          Cayde listens for a little but, but like always, he gets distracted by something or another. He looks up in the rafters for a little bit, something of an inkling just on the edge of his sensors. It might be moving slow. Could be a glitch. The teleporter was _not_ friendly to his circuits. 

          "Cayde?" Ikora asks, her voice scolding. 

          He looks at her, innocence dripping from ever corner of his being. At first, Ikora doesn't seem swayed, but Cayde continues his stare and she narrows her eyes at him. 

          "Is there something you'd like to add?"

          Cayde opens his mouth in mock affront and puts a hand to his chest. She rolls her eyes at him and continues whatever it was that she was saying. 

          "So we'll need to get into the wall."

          Cayde struggles to pay attention as that fuzzy feeling on the edge of his range comes back.

          Zavala, as always, takes the head-on approach. "If we could find an old Walker and aim it at the Cabal...."

          The sensor finally crackles and declares the area clear. Cayde narrows one eye at it, disbelieving. 

          "Cayde!" Ikora scolds. "Please pay attention." 

          Stroking Colonel absently, he looks at the crudely drawn map on the table. He takes it all in and then looks at Zavala.  _He plans to blow a hole in the wall with a Fallen Walker? He's got a few smaller circles, which I'll guess is sparrows infiltrating through the holes._ Praying for Wash to be able to pull off making it look like he's talking he opens his mouth. 

          "I think you're crazy." 

          Cayde's head snaps up to the rafters and he hisses at his sensors. She drops down squarely on the fence post next to Cayde and sits down. 

          "See, the wall is a lot like this barn, Zav. There's a lot of holes already in it. You just gotta know where to look." she looks at Cayde and settles her soft leather boots on top of the toes of his. "We could show you a way in, and offer some help. My group around here are pretty good at killing bad guys."

          "We can't ask you to do that...." Zavala starts.

          "You're not..." 

          "Not what? Guardians? We've been surviving without the Light for years." Cayde tenses, definitely siding with her on the matter, and she flicks a glance at him. "Once upon a time, that big ball up in the sky was there for all of us. I think it's time we return the favor."

          Colonel clucks, pulling out of her quiet as if cheering. 

          Ikora sees Cayde smile at the chicken, but elects to ignore it. "It won't be easy sneaking in."

          Zavala chuckles. "Oh, we're done sneaking." Cayde looks at him.  _Do you even know the definition of sneak as a Titan?_ "If I've learned anything from Cayde, it's the value of a grand entrance."

          Cayde looks at the chicken and then back to Zavala. He hugs it to his chest with a pleading look. Zavala doesn't seem put out in the least by any means, just amused. 

          "Cayde, you may bring the chicken if you wish."

          Cayde can't help himself. He raises Colonel above his head and lets out a choppy whoop of joy. Hawthorne laughs, actually laughs at him and his eyes get even brighter.

          Colonel crows and tilts his head adorably (at least Cayde thinks so) and Cayde snuggles the chicken to his chest. 

          "Cayde. Is there something you'd like to tell us?" Ikora says, worry in her tone.

          He goes a little slack and lets Colonel settle back into his lap. Looking at Ikora, genuinely confused, he tilts his own head. 

          "Is your...." she pauses. "voice box having issues?"

          Cayde wilts a little. He'd really hoped they hadn't noticed. He wishes so badly that he could explain it himself.  Looking straight at Hawthorne, she shrugs and Cayde sighs. She'll be no help on this one. Looking back at Ikora and Zavala, his team, and his friends, he nods.

          "It's broken, actually." Wash appears, sounding relieved that Cayde finally said something. Or, didn't. "And I can't fix it, so he's been rolling with it."

          Zavala looks a little shocked. "You must have been in pretty tough shape." 

          Cayde looks down at the ground as he remembers the feeling of the sword, and the impact with the ground. He looks at Wash, and begs him silently to tell them.

          "Cayde was on the command ship the day of the attack."

          Zavala's brow creases. "Why?"

          "We were going to kill the Cabal leader responsible for the attack. When we got into the control room, a Colossus was waiting for us."

          Ikora looks slightly irritated by the notion. 

          "Cayde fell and the Colossus shot-"

          Cayde taps the Ghost's fin and it turns.  _Just show them. I'll.. I'll be fine. And if I'm not, I'll leave._

          Wash considers it before projecting the recording. He's shocked that his Ghost starts back when Kayleigh found him. He smiles as his golden gun flares into three Cabal. Hawthorne nudges him and she smiles. 

          "Nice shot."

          Cayde's Ghost resumes the recording at the point Cayde entered the control room.  _Are you showing me off, Wash?_

          /Who, me?/

          When the Colossus sends the fiery projectiles his way, Zavala winces with sympathy when the recording goes dark. Then Wash switches to his own perspective and he watches the Cabal strip him of his weapons. His hand travels for the knife at his side to reassure himself, and both of his teammates catch the action. Hawthorne is used to his manner now, so she doesn't seem shocked at all. When he sees the Cabal Legionaries come to take him outside, he glowers at the recording. Cayde of course, doesn't remember it, but they grab onto his hood and drag him out of the room. Wash stays hidden a short distance away, but close enough to still get through open doors. 

          Once they get out onto the viewing deck, Cayde's limp form is thrown before Ghaul. 

          "Get him up."

          "Dominus."

          A red armored Cabal appears, and he's got Ghost cores hanging from his chest, and a helmet.

          "There is another Guardian making their way to this deck."

          "Let them come."

          The soldier departs and Ghaul looks back at the Legionaries, who still haven't picked Cayde off the ground. 

          Cayde starts to come around when they grab onto his arms, and he watches himself look around. His futile search for a weapon on his person yet again yields no fruit, but Cayde grips the knife in his hand tighter. Watching this again is making him jumpy. 

          Once Cayde gets reoriented, the point of view goes back to his own. He looks up at Ghaul and he can hear the whine of synthetic muscle as he cringes away from him. 

          "Afraid, Guardian?"

          "Not of you."

          Cayde freezes on the spot when he sees the knife that cut his voice box open. Ghaul's huge form towers over Cayde. His rough hand keeps Cayde's head up while he searches around for the right cord.

          Panic rises in Cayde's chest and Cayde looks at Hawthorne. She's entranced by the feed, but leans towards him to put a comforting hand on his shoulder. 

          It's not long after that that Kayleigh appears. Cayde fights the Cabal, but is disarmed once he has a weapon. The Legionaries that grabbed him the second time weren't Legionaries at all, but Ghaul's personal guard. 

          As Kayleigh turns to the sound of the ruckus, Cayde is lifted into the air, the sword breaking through his armor. He watches his own hands grasp at the sword.

          He thinks about leaving, but then something settles him. He sees Shiro in the top of the barn, watching the recording as well. Shiro flicks his blue eyes towards Cayde. Wash relays his thoughts into Cayde's head.  _Don't worry. We'll take him down._  

          He's pulled back into the feed by the sound of metal landing hard on the ground. It's his body as he's dropped from the sword. Ikora looks horrified, and Zavala looks beyond stunned. It's only amplified as Cayde drags himself to the edge after the Light is gone and watches Kayleigh get kicked off the ship. 

          "How did she survive?" Ikora says, something between disgust at Ghaul and pride in her Warlock. 

          And then Cayde is falling himself. 

          Cayde takes a few minutes to recover and finds that Shiro is gone, but Zavala and Ikora are still staring at him. 

          "How did  _you_ survive?" Ikora whispers. 

          Cayde finally shrugs. Hawthorne pats his shoulder. "He's stronger than you think, I suppose. Now, who's ready to kill Ghaul?"

          Cayde raises his hand as Colonel crows. He opens his mouth to volunteer as tribute when the weak repair breaks. It hurts, but not so badly as last time. 

          "Cayde?"

          He looks at Ikora and waves a hand under his chin. 

          "I can try to scrounge up some wires, if you want me to try again." Wash turns towards him. 

          Cayde shrugs.  _Doesn't matter. I'll live without it. Let's find Kayleigh and get rid of Ghaul._

          "Kayleigh is running a quick errand for me, but she'll be back in an hour or so." Wash answers. 

          "You have errands?" Hawthorne asks, her tone amused.

          "She's stealing a ship. That's all."

          Ikora raises her head, shouldn't we be listening so we know what's going on?"

          Zavala chuckles. "I suppose it'd be fun to listen one last time before we join the fray."

          Cayde rolls his eyes. Listening has never been Cayde's forte. He hops off the fence and offers a hand to Hawthorne. She takes it and lands quietly on the floor.

          "Why, thank you. Such a gentleman."

          Cayde wraps his arm around her shoulder and they leave the barn. Hawthorne yawns and rests her head on Cayde's shoulder. "We should put Akaiya to bed."

          He nods in response.  _We have to find her first._

          As if reading his mind, Hawthorne chuckles. "It's your fault she keeps disappearing, you know."

          _Wash._

/What?/ he asks, fake innocence dripping out of the word. Cayde huffs.

          There's still a light on in the barn for Saruya's ship, so they head that way first. When they get inside, they see Amanda beating a dent out of someone's sparrow.

          "Hey, Amanda. You seen Akaiya around?"

          She doesn't seem to hear Hawthorne, so Cayde taps her on the shoulder. She turns with the hammer raised, as if to swing, when she sees that it's Cayde. 

          "Ah, sorry." she pulls out her ear buds and smiles. "What can I do for ya?"

          "We're looking for Akaiya. You seen her?"

          She shrugs. "I don't know. She's been in an' out of here all day. With Shaxx, last I knew."

          Cayde doesn't think he misses the glint in her eyes, so he turns around and catches the leaping little girl. She pouts, but brightens as he passes her off the Hawthorne. Turning towards Amanda, she wears an almost disappointed expression.

          "There you are." Hawthorne chuckles. "She's becoming quite a force to be reckoned with, Cayde."

          Cayde chuckles to himself and smiles at Akaiya.  _Might be my last chance._

          Hawthorne carries the little girl out to the house and enters the first bedroom in the corridor. Putting her down on the bed in the corner, Hawthorne sits down next to her. 

          "Goodnight, sweetheart." 

          "Where are you going?"

          Hawthorne sighs. "I'm gonna go with Cayde for a little while. I'll be back."

          "Why can't I go with you?"

          "It'll be dangerous. I need you to stay here with Shaxx where he can keep you safe."

          She hugs Hawthorne around the waist. "But, I want to stay with you." Hawthorne murmurs to her. "You'll come back?"

          "I promise, Akaiya."

          She looks to Cayde. "You too?"

          Cayde comes close to the bed and wraps his arms around her.  _Always._

          Akaiya is off to sleep with a kiss on the forehead from Saruya. The drone of an inbound ship marks Kayleigh's arrival, so Cayde moves outside.  _She's early._

          The Cabal ship is prominent in its coloring, marking it as a high-ranking member's. When Kayleigh transmats to the ground, her helmet is off and she's grinning. 

          "So, who's ready to kick the Cabal back to Phobos?"

          Cayde ignores the fact that the Red Legion are actually nomadic and don't have homes besides in their ships and hugs her. His sensors read that she's more excited than she's letting on.

          "Good to see you too. How's Akaiya?"

          Cayde smiles, hoping that conveys it pretty well and she laughs. The other two Vanguard member join them and Hawthorne brings Shiro along. 

          Shiro spins the clip of his hand cannon and snaps it back into place. "Let's do this."


	9. Devotion

          Cayde didn't exactly know that anxiety was based on multiple objectives until now. It reminds him of standing around in the Tower while the Taken were their biggest problem. He honestly just hoped that Kayleigh left all of his caches alone, the sneaky thief of a Warlock.

          Cayde shuffles his cards nervously, and Zavala's gaze is drawn to the action. Colonel pecks at an ace and slips it from the deck while Cayde glances up at him.  _Who's a good chicken, eh Colonel?_

          Zavala chuckles. "I don't know, Ikora. I think Cayde might like that chicken more than us. It sure has more of his attention than we ever have."

          Cayde's head jerks up and his expression turns offended. How could they ever think....? Cayde glares. Zavala's expression is almost playful, and Ikora looks like a co-conspirator. 

          Turning his gaze back to the cards, he shuffles his deck and cuts it. The repetitive motion soothes his frayed wires and he finally settles in for a short nap. It won't be a long flight to the drop zone, not with Kayleigh flying, but Cayde needs something. Something rustles around in front of him, and he lets whoever it is keep at it until curiosity gets the better of him. Flicking one eye on, he glances up at the offending noise-maker. Shiro. 

          Cayde sits up when he sees the rickety card table from the barn, dusted off and ready for use. "Care for a hand or two?"

          Cayde glances around at all the members in the cargo area. Hawthorne's crew are fairly relaxed for people who might be going to their deaths. Hawthorne herself has an eye cracked open at the prospect of a game. Even Ikora seems intrigued.

          "Poker?"

          Cayde mimes laughter.  _There's no way I'm losing Glimmer I don't have._  

          "Okay, I'll take that as a no." Shiro sits down on the bench across form Cayde, and he realizes how small the space really is, since Shiro can still reach the table easily. "How about some slapjack. Make sure your reaction time is what it should be."

          Cayde chuckles.  _Like you could beat me._

          Shiro gestures for Hawthorne and Ikora to come over. They settle in close so they can try their hands against Cayde's speed. Shiro lays the cards down quickly and Cayde's eyes stare hungrily at the growing pile. When the first jack lands, Cayde slips a hand across the table and snags it before Ikora and Hawthorne even move. By then it's too late and they stare at him a little. 

          He shrugs.  _Just gotta up your game, that's all._

          With one jack safely in his possession, he rests a hand over it. The next jack hits the pile and Cayde reaches out but stops. Hawthorne's hand touches it instead and she frowns, pulling her hand up and checking it. "A king."

          Cayde smiles and almost misses the next card on the table. Snagging it, he pushes it snugly under the first card. He looks up at Shiro and the Exo seems impressed. 

          "Ikora, you should deal for a bit. I'm gonna see if I can beat Cayde."

          She takes hold of the cards and her unpracticed hands fumble to deal the same way Shiro does. The deck is almost gone when the last two come one after another. Shiro is late on the first one, so when he pulls his hand back, Cayde is already on the second, slipping both away from his grasp. 

          Shiro huffs. "Bet you couldn't do that twice."

          Cayde raises his eyebrows.  _Oh, yeah? Bet how much?_

          Shiro looks at him with a chuckle. "I know that face, Cayde. Sorry. No Glimmer debt for me today."

          "I for one will give him a couple chunks." Hawthorne smirks, her voice challenging. "What do you say, or.. not say, in your case?"

          Cayde gets a sly look to his face.  _How much?_

          "Zavala?" Ikora asks. "Would you deal?"

          Zavala looks as if he wants to refuse, but Ikora's curiosity is getting the better of her, and Cayde can see plainly that she wants to play.

          "As long as you promise no betting on your part."

          "Of course. I'll leave the Glimmer losing to Cayde." she smiles at him.

          Cayde scoffs and rounds up his deck, shuffling and cutting it three times in fluid movements. Hawthorne doesn't say anything, but she looks on quietly at his expression. Colonel hops up to Cayde's lap and settles in. Zavala sits down next to Cayde and takes the cards. His hands are far more deft around the deck than Ikora's and Cayde glances up at his face in silent inquiry. 

          There's a spark of amusement there, mostly from Cayde's bafflement, and he lays down the first card. Cayde continues to look at Zavala until he sees the next jack out of the corner of his eye. Shiro was only slightly behind him on the grab. 

          "That's not natural, Cayde."

          Cayde turns his head and smiles at Shiro. Cayde collects all the jacks once again and Ikora looks at Zavala with a grin. 

          "I think it's time to play."

          Zavala shuffles this time, and his hands make a few obscure tricks that no one not watching would notice. On his last shuffle, he bridges and flips the cards. The first jack comes out and it's nearly stolen away by Ikora, her gloved hands quicker on the draw than he would have anticipated. 

          Zavala varies in speed, forcing them to think. Cayde never loses focus on his cards, but Ikora is starting to gain on him. Hawthorne has given up on trying to win, but she's watching Ikora pick up her pace. Cayde realizes that she's watching him, and Ikora is too but for entirely different reasons. To his surprise, Shiro almost gets the next one. 

          She's picking up on his movements, so Cayde decides it's time to throw her for a loop. His hand twitches towards another king that comes down and Ikora's hand swoops out. Her head jerks up and Cayde smiles at the look of betrayal across her features, snagging the last jack as it comes down just after. 

          Cayde's eyes twitch when a long-lost sound echoes around the ship. Ikora is laughing. 

          "I see now why I have left gambling to the Hunters for so long."

          Cayde huffs.  _This isn't even real stuff._

          "Sorry to bust up your game back there, but I'm dropping you off at the wall now." Kayleigh calls back. 

          Zavala's Ghost, the healthiest of the three besides Kayleigh's, starts to transmat Hawthorne's team to the ground. Kayleigh puts it in hover and heads to the back to send them off. Zavala is the first to go after giving Cayde his cards back. 

          "It's been an honor, Warlock."

          She bobs her head respectfully and Zavala disappears. Ikora smiles at her. 

          "You have grown much in your studies. From here on, I am a mere guide for hard times." Ikora bows and disappears in a shimmer of Light. 

          "Right." Shiro gives himself a shake and stands up, slinging his rifle over one shoulder. "I won't get to sappy on you, but... good luck out there, Kayleigh."

          "Just come back in one piece."

          Cayde watches him disappear too and jumps when the back hatch opens up. Kayleigh swears and beats the side with a spare wrench. It seems to freeze for a second before closing again. 

          Cayde raises his brow.  _What was that?_

          "Stupid Cabal ship. Every time I hover, it takes a couple minutes to reroute the power." 

          Something in the side panel whirs and she hits it again. 

          "Kayleigh!" Amanda calls back.

          Cayde peers around her.  _Amanda?_

          "Stop beating on the ship! Who taught you to fix things, huh? Cayde?" she growls at him under her breath."Give me a few seconds to futz with the dampeners!"

          "What do they have to do with the back hatch?" Kayleigh grumbles. 

          "I heard that, Kayleigh! And it has everything to do with it, because it's most likely what's causing the short!"

          Cayde chuckles to himself and pulls Kayleigh into a light hug. She falls into him and he smiles.  _Be careful up there._

          "If you die, I'm not going to be happy."

           _I have no plans to die today._

          She hugs him back and then disappears to the front. "Get out of my boat, Cayde. There's work to be done."

          He grins widely.  _It's not even yours._ He waves to her as he disappears in a shimmer of light. As he lands on the ground, he finds his team waiting for him. 

          Cayde pulls his knife out and stalks through the hole before their nice sized group. He leads the way, scouting around for Cabal at the same time. Zavala is content to let him do that, it appears, since he hasn't made one move to stop Cayde when he gets curious about something. Colonel clucks, a slow sound that matches the new pace of his walk. Cayde tilts his head and lets the chicken have his way. He puts a hand out behind him for the group to stop and he hears them slide up against the wall. 

          He sees a ledge above his head and uses a cracked window frame to reach it. Peering around the corner of the building, he sees what Colonel does. A lumbering Centurion scout places one heavy step after another and Cayde is starting to feel the soft vibration under his feet. It comes into his range and he jumps, holding onto the soldier's armor and swinging a hand up towards its throat, his deadly knife jutting in. 

          It staggers and falls over, Cayde rolling away before it can land on him.  _Guess I'm jumping on their backs. Much safer._ He gets to his feet and dusts himself off, waving to the group to come over. He notices that Ikora and Shiro have already split off, and the few Lightless Warlocks that had found their way to the farm. They didn't amount to much, which is why Cayde had suggested with ridiculous hand gestures that Shiro should go with her. 

          Shiro, of course, wanted to stay where the action was, but Cayde refused to let Ikora go without a Hunter on her side. 

          In the end Cayde had won, so that was a plus.

          Hawthorne stays as close to Cayde as possible, and he's about to move on when he hears something. His head snaps up and he turns around. The hum of electricity is nearby and he strains to see anything. He sweeps Hawthorne behind his back and looks around. 

          "Cayde, you are aware that I can take care of myself, right?"

          He rests a light hand on her shoulder for a brief moment of reassurance.  _Of course I do._

          It cuts off abruptly and Cayde narrows his eyes.  _Now why don't I trust this?_  

          Shrugging his shoulder, he gives a hesitant okay and presses forwards. Colonel even keeps close, which seems weird to Cayde. That chicken is like a Cabal sniffer.

          It also turns out that he's the perfect bait. He's noisy enough to catch the Cabal's attention, but small and innocent enough for them to let their guard down. Cayde still keeps a sharp eye out for reinforcements. Hawthorne comments on his last kill and Cayde chuckles to himself. She points out the gate where they'll make their entrance.

          Cayde takes note of their group now. It's him and Hawthorne, along with three of her guys. 

          "Dev, you see anyone?"

          "I see your Titan friend and his merry band. Not very good at covering his tracks." he muses. 

          "He's a Titan, what did you expect?"

          Zavala clears his throat. "We're in position, and ready to go as soon as Ikora is."

          "We're ready when you are." she whispers back. 

          Devrim makes a sound in his throat. "That's a little better, Zavala. Maybe a little to the left?"

          "It won't matter soon. Ikora?" 

          "Fire in the hole." 

          A guard topples over and the rest bellow in alarm. Cayde peers through the edge of Hawthorne's scope with giddy excitement.  _Field work, I missed you._

          He sees the colorful trails of new sparrows zip by and Ikora looks like a woman on a mission. Cayde remembers his part of the plan and leaves Hawthorne's side. Sneaking his way around the perimeter, he meets almost no resistance, and what he does doesn't last long. His can hear the clamor of battle and resists the urge to go help. _Stay focused Cayde._

          As he climbs, he sees Ikora and Shiro split up. He pauses in his climb.  _That's not part of the plan._ Shaking himself, he scales the side of a taller ledge and leaps on the Psion waiting for him. A purple glow rests under his feet and he rolls away. Purple flames burn his side and he throws his knife, stumbling to the side. His hand travels to check himself over and comes away slick.  _Wash, where's the leak?_  

          He doesn't get an answer besides a whir of panic. Turning, he sees a Psion holding his Ghost and aiming a blaster at his single blue eye. Obviously, his knife missed.

           _Wash!_

          Before Cayde can do anything, he hears a high-powered rifle echo through the air. The Psion drops. 

          "You should be more careful with your Ghost, Guardian." Devrim chuckles. 

          Cayde swoops an arm out for his Ghost and Wash willingly hides under his cloak. He can feel a connection in his side come back online and huffs at Wash's impulsiveness, grabbing his knife from the ground. 

          "I can't fix much else, so don't get too banged up."

          Cayde is about to respond when he hears something. He could almost swear that it's the sound of a Hunter leaping midair. Knowing that time is of the essence, he scurries towards the rooftop where he's supposed to set up the teleporter that's strapped to his back. He's fairly certain that he's being followed, and he's also fairly certain that if he had hairs on the back of his neck, they'd be rising. 

          He doesn't have time to worry about it as he hears Zavala cry out in pain. His spirits high, he reaches the ledge and looks down at the fight. A Centurion is up there with him and they just stare at each other for a few seconds before he wrestles its weapon away. It slashes at him with its sword and Cayde stumbles back, remembering that he can't scream. The Centurion kicks him and Cayde lands on his back, stunned. As he leans forwards, he throws his knife into the soldier's chest and winces with sympathy as he topples over the ledge. Getting to his feet he looks down to where the Cabal landed and frowns as he realizes that he won't have his knife. 

          He looks for Hawthorne's scope and sees her swing towards him. Giving her a thumbs up, he rests a hand on one hip, tired. He zooms in on her movement and sees her signing out something. He signs out to her that he accidentally dropped his knife into the Cabal on the ground below him. 

          Not really conventional, but it works. 

          He can hear her moving over the comms and she runs to stand under him, pulling the knife out of the soldier's chest. She arches her back and hurls the knife up and he takes a step back as it flies straight in front of his face, snagging it. He waves at her then takes off. He hears Zavala struggling against someone again and Hawthorne mocking him as she comes to his rescue. 

          Hawthorne says that it's finally clear and Cayde lets relief wash over him as he uses a stone arch to get higher, and then he's running up the staircase to the balcony. Wash floats out to help him with instructions, zapping the machine here or there to get it working. 

           _Wash, it's not working._

          "It needs a power source." 

          Cayde can almost feel what Wash is thinking and shakes his head.  _No. I'll find you a power source. There is no way on earth that I'm letting you hook yourself up to this thing._

          "Cayde, we don't have time!"

           _No!_   _You'll die!_

          "Then I'll die protecting you!"

          Cayde looks at his Ghost, a pleading look on his face.  _Wash, no._   _You can't._

          "I have to."

          Cayde watches Wash float back to the the teleporter and dig around in it. Cayde sinks to his knees in front of the Ghost as he offers Cayde the wires.  _Please don't make me do this._

          The small wires fall into his palm. "This is what I was made for. I was made to save you. Ten times, an hundred. I want to do this Cayde."

          He barely hears Zavala and Ikora coordinating with Kayleigh over the impulses flooding his brain. Wash settles in his hand. 

          "One last time. Let me do this."

          Cayde's hand shakes as he hooks the leads into place. Wash shudders and his fins sink. 

          "Cayde, you've got to start cycling it up. I can't power it for long."

          With fumbling hands, he gets the small generator to start spinning and he senses enemies coming on the edge of his sensors. Wash looks up at him and Cayde holds the small Ghost close to the heat of his power core. 

          "Goodbye... Cayde."


	10. Reuinted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, that last chapter was a doozy. :)

          The next few minutes are a blur.

          Cayde nods slowly to reassure himself and sinks onto his side, resting. The air around him warms significantly, and he's fairly certain he can see it radiating around his body. He must have run out of coolant during the fight. 

          Slowly climbing back to his feet, he pulls the leather loose from above his abdomen and finds an orange glow shining through the gaps between the metal. 

          The comms crackle to life and Shiro speaks urgently.  ** _"Cayde, we've got a problem._** "

          He taps his arm once to let Shiro know he's listening and the other Exo presses on. Cayde listens and straps his armor back on at the same time. Then he picks up Wash from the ground, slipping the small Ghost in with his cards.

           _ **"I found Akaiya out here."**_

          He quickly taps out a response in Morse code and Shiro laughs. 

           _ **"She said she was following you."**_

           _What happened? Did she say anything?_

           _ **"She lost track of you, then got scared and hid, it seems like."**_

           _Keep her safe, and find Amanda. We didn't really know she was coming, and she doesn't have a comm. She'll find a ship to get you guys out of there._

 **_"Cayde, no. I'm gonna find her, hand Akaiya over, and then I'm coming to help_ ** _**you."** _

_Shiro, listen. I might not make it out of this one. Kayleigh is on her way, but I can't keep hidden forever. I need you to protect Hawthorne. Akaiya needs her mom, promise me._

          For a long while, Cayde doesn't get an answer and he starts to get a little antsy. A Psion shrieks nearby and Cayde readies his hand cannon. He sees the tell-tale purple flames from a mile away and spins out of their reach.  _Not this time._

          Before it can call out a warning, Cayde shoots it. Unfortunately, he brought friends. Red lasers point in his direction and he scurries behind cover.

          Ikora lets him know that Zavala caught up to her. " _We're almost there. Just hold on."_

          Cayde presses an extremely overheated hand to his side where oil leaks down onto his armor. There's no alarm, so it must not be critical (yet). Steadying himself, he rolls back into the open and shoots to kill. Something pulls him off-balance and he falls backwards, staring up into the red eyes of a Psion. Suddenly, its head is gone and Cayde rolls onto his stomach, glancing behind him. His forehead clinks lightly on the cement as relief floods over him. 

           _ **"I picked up Hawthorne. Amanda, at least I think it was Amanda, fired up a flare."**_

 _What do you mean, you_ think _it was Amanda. A) you thinking, and B) who else would send up a flare?_

           _ **"I find that rude, and it could be all the Psions trying to kill us."**_

He's about to answer when Zavala grabs onto his arm, trying to help him off the ground. Cayde flails to get him off.  _Don't touch me! Not yet. I'll burn you._

          Zavala reels away, looking hurt by his actions, but then he looks at his hand. "Are you all right?"

          Finding his feet by himself, he nods. He tries to explain his lack of coolant and Ikora waves him off. 

          Cayde signs to ask about Kayleigh and Ikora waits for him to finish his question. 

          "She's on her way. I think she got knocked off a ledge by a Colossus. I don't think her Ghost was impressed."

          Cayde smiles half-heartedly.  _I imagine not._

          To him it feels more like a grimace. His eyes catch movement coming directly for them and he shoves Ikora behind his back, aiming faster than either of his teammates ever could. He fires, but the Centurion isn't stopping. Grabbing his knife from its sheath, he leaps on it and takes it to the ground before it can hurt anyone. 

          Cayde gets up, but he's thrown backwards from the edge by an explosion that takes out half of the terrace. Ikora cries out and Zavala tries to gain his balance and catch her at the same time.  _She's slipping!_

          Cayde tries to go to them, but a laser hits him in the back, the purple fire launching and burning him, causing Cayde to hit the ground hard. He gives himself a shake and crawls to his knees, at least, and looks around. Alarms rise up in his circuits and he realizes that his left arm isn't working properly. He examines it after picking off the Psions flooding through the stairway. There's nothing in it that he can see and he checks his shoulder. He winces when he touches his knife, where it's embedded up there. 

          Steeling himself to pull it out, he's unprepared for a cool hand to land on his shoulder to stop him. "Let me."

          Zavala tells Ikora to hold them off while he works on getting Cayde's shoulder right. 

          "How did you manage to get this in here?" he sounds scolding and Cayde shrugs, leading his shoulder to ache. 

          Zavala pulls Cayde behind cover and jerks the knife out with an abrupt movement. Cayde's back arches and he leans against the wall as the pain ebbs. 

          "Are you all right?" Zavala asks, handing Cayde his knife back. 

          Cayde nods and rolls his shoulder.  _I can still fight._

          "Cayde, the teleporter!" Ikora calls. "Kayleigh is almost here, and the coordinates still need to go in before we make the jump!"

          "I'll cover you." Zavala answers as Cayde hurries over.

          Ignoring the wires on the ground, his hands work fast to set it up correctly. Finally, Kayleigh appears and he sighs in relief, sitting down. 

          "The way is clear. No more enemies will be coming in from over there." 

          Cayde's shoulder hitches uncomfortably. Ignoring it, he swings himself off the ground and readies himself. Ikora and Zavala are checking their weapons and Kayleigh offers Cayde some ammo. Picking up what's left on the ground, he takes her bundle gratefully. She hugs him and he forgets about her Light, trying to get her away from his core.

          "Easy. You won't hurt me, Cayde."

           _It's good to see you._

          Jake appears and seems to be searching for something. Or someone. " _Wash?_ "

          Cayde grips Kayleigh a little tighter as the name seems to echo around. Kayleigh lets him hold on, and he's even more grateful to have her as a friend. 

          "Is he gone?" she whispers.

          Cayde nods and lets go.  _He did it for me._

          Finally, Shiro answers him.  _ **"I promise."**_

          Reassured, he turns towards the teleporter. Ikora and Zavala are the last ones through and they land on the top deck, Ghaul waiting for them at the other end. Cayde's systems are sending up warnings all over, heat warnings mostly. He can't tell whether he's getting hotter from anger or from overuse. 

          The fight seems to last forever, and it's worse when Ghaul's reinforcements show up. Zavala gets shot more times than the Titan would ever admit, and Cayde his to use every thread of his ability to keep himself alive. Ikora actually doesn't seem to be doing so poorly, but her lack of real armor has her bleeding from various wounds. 

          Kayleigh isn't having much luck with Ghaul, the Light healing him as fast as she can hurt him.  _Come on, Traveler. We made it this far. Is it too much to ask for a little help?_

          Kayleigh sends wreaths of flame towards Ghaul and he stumbles back. Her Dawnblade is putting tears in his armor where blood finally starts to pour out. 

          Patches of Light appear and Kayleigh glances around for Cayde.  _Go! Don't look for me, go into the Light!_ _And, Wow that is cliche._

          He's caught off-guard by a Legionary and it knocks him to the ground. Cayde deflects its sword with his arm and shoots it in the head. Zavala calls out for a little backup. Cayde and Ikora rally around him and he thanks them while firing into the hordes of Cabal. 

          Everyone, including the Cabal, stops at the sound of Kayleigh's scream of pain. Cayde sees Ghaul standing over her as blood drips from her mouth.

          He reaches down to pick her up by the hair and Cayde's eyes widen.  _Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you._

          She reaches back, her reflexes fast, and grabs the sword holstered there. Pulling it straight off her back, she slices Ghaul's hand clean off. Shock, Cayde thinks, is the reaction best-fitting Ghaul's expression.

          Kayleigh backs up, keeping out of his reach. To his credit, he doesn't scream in pain. 

          Time seems to slip by as they await a reaction, but all he does is reach down and pick up the hand. He places it back on his wrist and, and Cayde cringes, because it doesn't fall off when he lets go. Kayleigh looks stunned, and in the seconds lapsing between then and when he attacks her are filled with tension. 

          Finally, Ghaul calls out for his army to continue fighting and Cayde isn't fast enough to come out of his daze. A Legionary kicks Cayde to the ground and Ikora calls his name. Its sword breaks through his armor and skewers his shoulder, pinning him to the ground. His mouth opens in a soundless scream and Zavala is the one to kill it. 

          Sound comes back to him and he hears the sounds of battle around him. Kayleigh's sword crashes against Ghaul, her Dawnblade out again. More patches of Light spring up around them and Kayleigh is constantly tossing fire at Ghaul. Ghaul catches her with his own and she falls to the ground. 

          Zavala pulls the sword out of Cayde with a grunt and Cayde finds his feet. He's rushing to Kayleigh's side and he shields her with his battered form. The white-armored soldier pauses. 

          "You lived?"

           _No thanks to you._

          Ghaul seems to smile as he looks over at Zavala and Ikora. They are both pinned to the ground by Centurions awaiting orders. 

          "You are outmatched, Guardian." he says 'guardian' with a sneer in his tone. 

          Ghaul is about to answer when the sound of a high-powered sniper rings through the air. Cayde turns towards the source and is surprised by the sight of Hawthorne. She fires once more for good measure and Cayde swivels his head back to look at Ghaul. Two holes now reside in his head.

          "Is she now?" Hawthorne hisses.

          He drops like a ton of bricks and Cayde feels relief sink through him for about eight seconds when Ghaul starts to reform. 

          "You cannot win. I am immortal!" 

           _Really? Come on Traveler. This is a load of crap._

          He's stopped in his imminent insult by a glow from the Traveler. The long tendril wrapped around it snaps and Ghaul seems astonished. 

          "You do see me."

          He screams as the Traveler eviscerates him and Cayde stares at where he was.

          There's a second of silence before the hard coating and the cage around it shatters, sending Light flying out into the 'verse. Cayde can feel it inside his body, and he finds himself mending. The oil that had been steadily dropping to the floor stops. The tears in his cloak mend. 

          He's almost too tired to care. 

          His pouch where his cards are sinks and he pats it, finding Wash's shape to be gone.  _Goodbye, Wash._  

          Despite his Light having returned, he's still coming down to optimal heat levels. Kayleigh claps his back.

          "Whoo! We did it!" she crows.

           _Yeah, we did._

          Someone offers him a hand and he looks up into Hawthorne's eyes. Taking it, he gets up and looks her in the eyes.  _Hey, Whiskey._

           _ **"Hey, I have a bet with Amanda. Are you two staring lovingly into each other's eyes?"**_

          Kayleigh laughs. "Yes, they are. And it's awful. How much was your bet?" she asks, chuckling as Zavala and Ikora take out the last of the enemies. 

          Cayde ignores them. Hawthorne inches closer to his face before closing the gap completely. Pulling out of the kiss, he stands there with her in his arms, her head resting under his chin. If she notices the heat coming off of him, she doesn't say anything about it.

          He spells out a couple words on her arms and she smiles into his chest. "She's safe. Auntie Amanda is taking very good care of her."

           _D-E-V-?_

          "Also safe. He's making Amanda tea."

          Finally, he relaxes and her hands tug him closer. 

           _ **"Hey, Cayde? Cayde?...... Cayyyyyde? Some of your Hunters are showing up. Is that a good thing? Cayde? Nevermind. I could probably crash another ship into Nessus right now and you wouldn't care."**_

          With Hawthorne tucked safely under his arms, he smiles up at the stars. 

           _ **"We're swinging by to pick you up. You two better be decent."**_

          Hawthorne chokes down a laugh. He tunes back in to Kayleigh and the other's conversation with a smile.

          ".......ously, I think this would make a good crucible arena."

          Zavala huffs. "Shaxx would never approve. This is too small for twelve people."

          Kayleigh sighs wistfully. "It would be beautiful. Can't you just imagine the explosions?"

          Hawthorne hums. "You've picked yourself a good friend, Cayde." 

          It's not long before they're transmatted into the ship and Cayde sees Akaiya. 

          "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" she giggles relentlessly. 

          He crouches with open arms and she runs into them. He snuggles her close.  _Hey, sweetie. Heard you got into some trouble._

          When he lets go, she's already moved on to Hawthorne, squirming to get comfortable in her grip. 

          "Hey, honey." Hawthorne kisses her cheek. "Did you have fun?"

          She nods vigorously. "Mmm-hmm!"

          "Good. Because you're not leaving my sight..." she chuckles, nuzzling Akaiya's nose. "... for another ten years."

          "But mommmaa." she complains. 

          Cayde smiles and sits down on the bench, looking around. Looking up at the ceiling, he tilts his head.  _Paint swirls?_

          "Alrighty, folks!" Amanda calls back. "Strap in back there. I think ya'll have been ruffed up enough for one day, yeah?"

          Hawthorne snuggles up against his warmth and Akaiya fiddles with his leather. He could almost swear she'd buckled and unbuckled the same strap seventeen times, but it was no less enchanting to her. 

          Ikora is definitely amused.

          After tuckering herself out, she curls up under Shiro's old cloak, sprawled across Hawthorne and Cayde's legs. 

          Hawthorne leans against Cayde's shoulder and falls asleep. Zavala clears his throat. 

          "Cayde, do you remember the old portion of the Tower?"

          He nods. 

          "I haven't been over there for..... a long time and I was hoping you could be of some help."

          Cayde gives him a thumbs up and tilts his head against Hawthorne's.  _Yeah, I can flip on the lights for you._

          He doesn't remember falling asleep, but when Hawthorne gently shakes him awake, they're in the old hangar bay for the Tower. If you ask Cayde, it's always been infinitely more awesome than the new one. 

          His glowing blue eyes cast shadows around the space and he watches out for that  _one_ hole in the floor. _Yeah, I already fell down that one a couple times, and I'm not going to repeat it without my Ghost._

Hawthorne follows closely behind him and Ikora and Zavala wander around with their Ghosts lighting the way. He smiles when he finds the main console.  _There you are._

          It's incredible, really. He flips one switch and the whole place cycles up. 

          "We'll have to set up a beacon." Hawthorne says. 

          Cayde chuckles.  _Don't you know? The Tower is one._

          He climbs into the upper floors and heads out to the balcony. With his arm around Hawthorne, they step out onto the moonlit balcony. Cayde is fairly certain this one won't be blown up. 

          The rest of their group joins them and they stare up at the Traveler. 

♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤

          Cayde wanders onto the balcony after dark. It's been about a week now, and he's accustoming to his new room and his new space. Zavala is asleep, for once, and the Tower is peaceful. 

          Lord Salad Bar (as Cayde, and most of the Guardians so lovingly call him) has set up shop in the highest corner of the Tower. While his fires still burn, the man himself is down in his quarters snoring the night away. 

          He leans against the balcony and stares out over the city. Something catches his attention and he waits for it to get closer. 

          "Cayde!" it calls. 

          He doesn't believe it, but he has a distinct feeling that his ears aren't deceiving him.  _Wash?_

          The Ghost collides with Cayde at top hover speed. 

           _You're alive?_

          "The Traveler let me come back! And you'll never guess what I found along the way!"

           _What?_

          He turns out away from the Tower and makes a weird beeping sound. Another Ghost floats out in the open and up towards Cayde. 

          It's tiny. He puts out a gentle hand and the adorable little Ghost hovers above his palm, blinking its single brown eye up at him. "Do you know where my Guardian is?" she says timidly.

          Cayde smiles. _I think I know exactly who you belong to._

          Wash zips around excitedly, his new shell glinting in the light. The little Ghost over his shoulder, on the other hand, hovers nervously. 

          "Are they nice?" she finally asks.

          _You'll love her. I promise._

          Cayde walks down to his room and quietly opens the door. It's no use. Hawthorne is already waiting for him. 

          "You left. What were you up to?"

           _I didn't want to wake you._

          "Cayde." she warns. "Use your words."

          "Sorry. I... I just needed some fresh air."

          His voice is so quiet, he wonders if she even heard it. 

          "It's hard not to notice when my space heater leaves the bed. And, you know that weight difference once you're gone is dramatic too."

          _I found someone outside, though._

          Hawthorne rolls her eyes. "Cayde, if you're gonna be so quiet, come sit next to me. And I can hear your excuses without my ears."

          Sighing, Cayde makes his way to the bed and lies down with her. Wash pops up in between them. 

          "Hi!"

          Hawthorne jumps a little, but Cayde keeps her steady. "Wash." he scolds. 

          The Ghost doesn't seem put out in the least. He flies around the room, examining every little thing he can. 

           _Put some clothes on, Wash. You're shining us in the eyes like a flashlight._

          "Where'd you leave the shaders?"

          _As if you don't know._

          He 'poofs' into thin air and reappears as himself. "Ta-da!"

          "Where's Akaiya?" he asks.

          "She's right here." Hawthorne rolls over and nudges the little girl awake. 

          "Is daddy back?" she yawns.

          "Yeah. He wants to say hi."

          Akaiya crawls over her mother and hugs Cayde around the shoulders. He squeezes her tight and then puts her out at arm's length. 

          "Wash?"

          She gasps when he appears and she touches a light hand to his fins. "I missed you." she hugs the Ghost and he squeaks in surprise. 

          "I missed you too. But guess what?"

          "What?"

          "I brought you something."

          The tiny Ghost that Cayde already adores because of her size alone floats out into the room. "Hi."

          Akaiya's eyes light up and she pokes it. It settles into Akaiya's palm and she runs a small finger over the even smaller fins of the Ghost. 

          "Can I name it?" 

          Cayde looks at Hawthorne.  _Is this a good idea?_

          Hawthorne tilts her head. "Of course, honey. You can name it whatever you'd like."

          "I wanna name her..." she pauses, thinking. 

          Cayde smiles as her curly brown hair falls around her shoulders, smoothing it back over her ear.

          "I wanna name her Jayne." 

          Cayde breathes out a sigh of relief. "That's perfect, kiddo."

          Cayde nestles back in with Akaiya and Hawthorne after kissing said Hawthorne on the temple. He realizes that for the first time since he lost his Light, he finally feels whole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Endings are hard! I restarted this chapter four times! And to those who thought Wash's death would be permanent, I A) love him way too much for that, and B) watch way too much Supernatural.


End file.
